One sentence, one sum. By Mark

The simple sentence and the sum. The simple sentences Wilf ran for the bus. Wait! He ran faster. He got to the bus stop just in time. The sum Percentages. Question, what is 25% off £160? We will look at a cake and how big a bite 25% is. It’s one quarter. 25% of 160 is .25 X 160 = one quarter of the cake, which is 40.

Introduction The simple sentence A simple sum Capital letters Verbs: doing words! The simplest sentences. A simple sum How to reduce an item by a percentage in a shop The original amount. The discount The simplest method The answer

A simple sentence. A doing word. Wait! ; Go. ; Run? All these word sentences have some things in common: They start with a big letter ‘a CaPiTaL letter’ they also do something that doesn’t need any other word to explain. You won’t normally see single words as sentences, however, they are allowed.

Your turn! What one word sentences can you think of? You can do this exercise on your own, or in a group. See who can come up with the most one word sentences in 2 minutes. Write down the ones you hear someone else say or look in a dictionary for other doing words that can make a sentence.

Another simple sentence. In technical language we have subjects and predicates and other things, but we aren’t going to use that language in this class. However we can talk about what it means  Our simple sentence for the day has a ‘C’apital letter to start, a noun, a verb, and a full stop. Wilf ran. (Wilf is a name, and he ran!  Wilf ran for the bus. Big Wilf ran quickly for the bus. Big Wilf ran for the bus, but he missed it. Your turn! Write three sentences about Wilf.

Sentence summary We have looked at: Capital letters ABC… Full stops … Commas ,,, Doing words and exclamations: Run; go; see; cook; write etc. Very simple sentences.

The sum. We are going to do a percentage (%) reduction. What is a percentage? Well, it is a bit of something, maybe a slice of cake for example. We are going to use a slice of cake for this example. The whole cake is 100%, If you take a slice and eat it then some of the 100% is now in your tummy, the question is how much 

Dividing the cake If you were hungry you could have eaten half the cake, 50% If you were starving you may have eaten three quarters of the cake, 75% And if you had had a big lunch you may have eaten quarter of the cake, 25% We are going to use this cake to talk about a discount in a sale.

The sale item You want to buy a digital camera and they are in the summer sales. There was a really nice one that was 149.99, very expensive, but really nice! It’s now in the sale and they are offering 40% discount, now that’s more like it. So now for the sum without a calculator. How do you work out 40% of 149.99 without a calculator?

Easier than it sounds A bit like our big cake. You take a big, big mouthful, and there is just a bit more than half left, how to work it out? Well what you do is times the original amount 149.99 by 40. Lets make it 150 and times it by 0.4, (the same as 40%) We get 0.4X150=60. We then take 60 off the original price, leaving us with 90. The new price then is 90. That is 150-40% or 0.4x150.

Back to the cake We have eaten nearly half the cake, 40% to be exact, how much is left, lots!  We can say the original amount times the amount left so 1 x .6 = .6 In other words 149.99 X 0.6 = 90 Cake baking easy!

Your turn! Think of something you’ve been looking at in the shops but has been too expensive. You are waiting for the sale. That item is now 30% cheaper than it was. In groups, or on your own decide on the item and work out the discount. Present your sum to your partner and check answers. Well done.

Well done! Conclusion We have looked at: Turning percentages into slices of cake. How to work out the discount on that digital camera you’ve been looking at. You have had a go yourself, and checked answers. Well done!