Do you want to join the police force?

Ever wanted to join the police? Or is your child considering joining the police force in the future? 

 

Did you know that to join the police force you need to have good numeracy skills, and you need to pass the Police Numerical Reasoning Test?

(Photograph taken from www.telegraph.co.uk)

Below is the Pass the Police Numerical Reasoning Test, try it out and put your numeracy skills to the test!

1) A grocer has sold £429 worth of fruit and vegetables. If there are cheques for £23.70, £50.35 and £26.95, and the rest is paid in cash, how much cash should there be?

a) £328
b) £101
c) £302.50
d) £428
e) £352

2) On average 1 out of every 25 shop owners experience violent assault. Out of 300 shops how many shops owners are violently assaulted?

a) 3
b) 4
c) 6
d) 8
e) 12

3) How much money remains if I have £55 and spend £23.75?

a) £30.75
b) £31.25
c) £32.50
d) £33.75
e) £33.15

4) You are allowed 22 days holidays, and have already taken 10 whole days leave and 6 half days leave, how many days holiday do you have remaining?

a) 8
b) 8.5
c) 9
d) 9.5
e) 10

5) You withdraw 40% of your savings from an account which holds £800. How much remains in your account?

a) £380
b) £420
c) £440
d) £480
e) £490

6) £13.83 is spent on Christmas shopping. How much change would you get from £20.00?

a) £5.63
b) £6.17
c) £6.47
d) £6.67
e) £4.37

7) An oil drum has a maximum capacity of 800 litres. If the barrel is 75% full how many litres are required to fill it to its maximum?

a) 200
b) 300
c) 400
d) 600
e) 800

8) Eight cakes cost £6.08, how much is the price of one cake?

a) 74p
b) 76p
c) 80p
d) 81p
e) 82p

9) If a car journey of 490 miles takes 7 hours, what is the average speed of the car?

a) 55mph
b) 60mph
c) 65mph
d) 70mph
e) 72mph

10) What is the average (mean) height of a group of rowers if two are 1.80m tall, three are 1.95m in height and one is 2.10m tall?

a) 1.96m
b)1.90m
c) 1.95m
d) 1.94m
e) 1.92m

11) One case containing 42 bottles of orange juice cost £6.30. How much will 5 bottles of juice cost?

a) 10p
b) 25p
c) 50p
d) 65p
e) 75p

12) One vehicle in 15 is stopped in a drink drive campaign by the Police. How many vehicles will have been stopped out of 225?

a) 11
b) 15
c) 13
d) 12
e) 14

13) One carpet tile measures 50cm by 50cm. How many tiles are required to cover a floor which measures 10m by 2m?

a) 40
b) 60
c) 80
d) 90
e) 100

14) What is the total weight of five parcels each 200g and six parcels each 7.5kg?

a) 37kg
b) 38kg
c) 39kg
d) 42kg
e) 46kg

15) You start a shift at 2.30PM and finish at 10:30pm, how many hours will you have worked in five days?

a) 30
b) 35
c) 40
d) 45
e) 60

16) 8 magazines contain 110 pages each. How many pages are there in total?

a) 440
b) 660
c) 800
d) 880
e) 900

17) If you buy a CD for £6.79, what change is due from £10.00?

a) 22p
b) 23p
c) £3.21
d) £3.32
e) £4.21

18) You walk daily for 30 minutes, how much time do I spend walking in 10 days?

a) 3.5hours
b) 4 hours
c) 5 hours
d) 5.5 hours
e) 6 hours

19) If my weekly paper bill is £3.50 and the delivery charge is 45p per week, how much do I have to pay over a six week period?

a) £23.70
b) £22.30
c) £21.70
d) £24.70
e) £23.20

20) What is the average weekly wage of a team of five people whose wages are £220, £340, £325, £315 and £240?

a) £220
b) £228
c)£300
d)£320
e)£324

21) If turf costs £2.50 per metre, how much would 45m cost?

a) £106.50
b) £112.50
c) £120
d) £124.50
e) £126

22) What is the average age of a group of children whose individual ages are 13yrs, 15yrs, 8yrs, 7yrs?

a) 11
b) 12
c) 15
d) 13
e) 10

23) A motorist is travelling at 60mph, how far will he have travelled in 24 minutes?

a) 21
b) 22
c) 24
d) 25
e) 26

24) You withdraw £440 from a cashpoint. You get half the money in £20 notes and the remainder in £10 notes. How many notes do you receive?

a) 33
b) 31
c) 28
d) 24
e) 22

25) How many pieces of string measuring 1.25m can be cut from a ball which is 100m long?

a) 130
b) 125
c) 95
d) 90
e) 80

Thanks for taking part and reading Steam Powered Stories' blog!

 

Head back to steampoweredstories-janro.blogspot.com next Wednesday for more maths activities and for more information on Steam Powered Stories' endeavours in the community! 

 

 

Dwr-Y-Felin Finance and Entrepreneurship Day

Steam Powered Stories and Learn and Grow were busy ensuring What You Say Counts! last week in Dwr-Y-Felin Comprehensive school, Neath, where over 250 year ten students left school on Monday 16th June feeling confident about not only numeracy but their futures in the workplace.

 

Steam Powered Stories’ vision is to obliterate the belief that numeracy is an equation that cannot be solved, and through workshop-based learning, links are created between students and employers to promote literacy, numeracy and communication skills. Ensuring the “What you say counts!” government funded project is recognisable and therefore successful, Steam Powered Stories in association with Learn and Grow, administered a Finance and Entrepreneurship day in Dwr-Y-Felin this week aiming to highlight the importance of numeracy within the workplace, inspiring our future workforce by bringing numbers to life.

 

 

Maxine Day, qualified hairdresser, Pauline Clay, Independent Finance Advisor from Dragon Financial Services, Stephen Waldron from Stephen Waldron Architecture, Richard Dare, Credit Union representative, Go-kart entrepreneurs Go-Kart Tech, Neath Health Board, Fitness Instructor, Lee, Alan Anthony, Fireman, and JanRo’s own John, Inspirational Speaker, headed to Dwr-Y-Felin to work alongside pupils to provide an insight into how numeracy is applied in every job, whether one is a fireman, a go-kart specialist, or a fitness instructor.

 

 

Students interacted with each employer by doing tasks that the employer would undertake in their day-to-day working lives; some students learnt how to change a tire of a go-kart under time limitations, others were informed of the mathematical skills needed to be a successful hairdresser by having to know angles and dimensions to cut hair properly.

 

By the end of the workshop, the year ten students felt confident in the belief that they can succeed in maths. One pupil stated the day was an “eye-opener”, others appeared to be in awe of how maths skills are needed in every area of the workplace, regardless of what profession someone works in; it was clear that the finance and entrepreneurship day provided the future generation with some much needed inspiration and assurance that everyone can obliterate the belief that maths is difficult, that maths is not needed in life.

 

 

 

If you require any information about Steam Powered Stories and the workshops we run, feel free to contact JanRo Ltd directly by dialling 01685 872385, sending Hayley, Steam Powered Stories’ Business Counts Co-ordinator an email on janro.hayley@gmail.com, or through our Facebook and Twitter pages.

 

Thanks for reading! Visit Steam Powered Stories ‘What You Say Counts!’ blog next Wednesday for more details on the project and for some fun maths activities.

 

Using maths in everyday life

 

Maths is everywhere and yet, we may not recognize it because it doesn’t look like the maths we did in school. Maths in the world around us sometimes seems invisible. But maths is present in our world all the time-in the workplace, in our homes, and in life in general. When you buy a car, follow a recipe, or decorate your home, you’re using maths principles.

In today’s society, children will need maths if they are going to be, for example, engineers, mechanics, lawyers, nurses, police officers, fire fighters or dentists. Many retail and clerical jobs require the use of maths, although most people now rely on calculators and other electronic devices for calculating. But even then, it is necessary to be able to estimate in order to be confident of the amount.

Everybody benefits from having the ability to think more logically – we need to have a basic understanding of shapes, angles, lines, volume, measurement and numeracy to function in today’s society.

We need to be able to work out our pay and pensions, or how long it takes to make a journey, or how much the supermarket’s special offer saves us. And adults who are doing building or DIY need geometry to measure angles.  And even when we’re relaxing, and playing games such as darts, billiards, Scrabble or snooker, maths is necessary to keep the score and work out who has won.

So maths is used extensively in everyday life – at school, in the home, in workplaces and in our leisure time, which means a great deal depends on it. Even if we’re not involved in a maths or science-related job or profession, we need a knowledge of mathematics to function effectively in today’s world.

 

 

Taken fromhttp://www.mumsnet.com/learning/maths/using-maths-in-everyday-life

 

Thanks for reading!

Why maths matters to me

Written by Di Phillips

 

If you have four pencils and I have seven apples, how fast is the train going that started from Birmingham New Street Station at 10:00am, while the earth is moving at 300 mph?

 

Yes that maths problem is a joke!  But the feelings I had for years when confronted with anything that looked vaguely like it weren’t.

 

I really hated maths.  I regularly found excuses not to attend the lessons, e.g. imaginary illnesses, fake dental appointments and truanting.

 

On the rare occasions that I did attend, the teacher would always ask me to work out a maths problem, by myself, on the board, while the rest of the class watched – the result was always the same – I couldn’t do it and I felt a failure.

 

As time went on, things got worse.  I quit trying to learn the subject. I didn’t see the relevance of it.  That was until I got older and discovered that it was an essential, everyday skill.  I couldn’t get away from it – maths was EVERYWHERE!

 

For example, I take daily medication and I have to understand the different dosages, whether they are in grams or millilitres. 

 

Recipes I follow call for either imperial or metric measurements and I have to work out how much of an ingredient I must add when making a dish. 

 

When I decorate in my house I need to know how to work out the area of my room so that I buy the correct amount of wallpaper, paint and floor coverings and I must know the correct dimensions of furniture to ensure they fit into the space I have available.

 

When travelling for work I have to consider my costs in miles, time and money.  When going on holiday I need to understand the departure and arrival schedules and think about the weight of my luggage or risk hefty surcharges. 

 

When I’m shopping, whether buying a quick and easy ready meal or a new car or house, I need to think about my budget and the cost and affordability of these items.  For small purchases I only need to think about whether I have enough cash in my purse, but for bigger purchases I need to have knowledge of interest rates.  Finding a mortgage is very different than choosing what to have for dinner that day, but they both cost money and require me to use maths.

 

Even my free time can involve using maths. For instance, I enjoy Sudoku puzzles, which involve logic and I am learning to play chess, which involves probability – chess players have to look at the options and possible setbacks of each move.  If you’re into sports you may considering basic win/lose ratios, players batting averages etc. and if you’re a runner or cyclist, you may chart your progress, from time to mileage to elevation.

 

Another place math’s is widely used is in the workplace – many jobs use it at many different levels, from shelf stacking to brain surgery.  Some jobs such as accountancy, architects, engineers, statisticians, and economists may require complex knowledge, but even hourly paid workers need to know if their working hours multiplied by their rate of pay accurately reflect their wages and having good maths skills can also lead to promotions, better jobs and higher salaries.

 

In my job as a training advisor I teach and support adults and young people who want to improve their essential skills. If I had to give one piece of advice it would be “It’s never too late to learn maths”.  It will increase your ability, your confidence and will lead to you getting greater workplace opportunities – so what have you got to lose?

Welcome to Steam Powered Stories' What you say COUNTS! blog

Welcome to the What you say counts! blog

What you say counts! is a Welsh government funded project that aims to raise awareness of numeracy and to prevent an adult saying 'I can't do maths' in front of their children, a term that subconsciously encourages the younger generation to believe they can't do maths. 

Steam Powered Stories, in association with Learn & Grow, aims to obliterate the belief that a child cannot do maths by not only creating links between schools and businesses to ensure that pupils understand that numeracy is used in everyone's working lives whether they are a fireman, or a fitness instructor, but also strives to inform and educate students through workshop based learning to understand that numeracy can be fun and easy to understand.

  

Tune in to this blog every Wednesday where we will be posting a weekly post that could feature how maths is used in everyone's everyday working lives, what we have done, or will be doing each week, or even fun maths games to keep your children occupied. 

Thanks for reading!