Can anyone give me a heads up in math?

[Freya]

Im sitting a uni entrance exam of multiple choice questions on thurs. There will be 35 math questions as part of the exam (similar to the STAT test). Problem is I didnt do math in grades 11 and 12 so my knowledge is basic at best. I got sent 6 test questions via email and while I am not at all worried about the logic based basic math stuff I totally suck at decimals, fractions and the like.

Are there any formulas or rules I should keep in mind? I will be able to use a calculator.

Thankyou so much!!

[butterfly_warrior]

Maths teacher at your service.

Without seeing the practice questions it would be a bit hard to say which sort of areas you'll be needing to know, so I can't really advise on formulas and stuff at this point.

What I would suggest is making sure you have a scientific calculator that's approved for the test... and then sit down and make sure you know how to use it. Scientific calculators will take care of order of operations, fractions and decimals so it will get you out of a lot of trouble if you know how to use it.

BW

[ss_storm]

Maybe have a look at the HSC Online website. I don;t know how it will be in regards to "basic" functions like fractions etc but it may have some useful tips on there. Can't remember much myself and it was only 5 years ago I did my HSC! Lol. Just goes to show how much "school" maths you actually use IRL

[Freya]

BW -
Two of the sample questions they sent me were easy, one was a graph with a specific question asked about it and the other was a "so and so is selling raffle tickets. They raised $80 in the first week then every week after raised $5 less than the week before. After 7wks what was their total raised?" which is obviously pretty easy to work out. The question I hesitated on was "0.32 is................equal to 1/32, greater than 1/3, equal to 8/25 or less than 30%". As soon as I see the fractions crop up my brain switches off but when Dh explained how to work it out to me I kinda got it. Im just super worried that I'll be fine til some mega hard questions come up involving more complex factions and stuff and I'll freeze up.

Thanks for all the tips! Im borrowing dhs calc and he'll show me how to use it tomorrow night.

[JwithJ]

with that question its all of them so yeah i can see how that confusing

edit sorry i stuffed up didnt read properly lol its 8/25 lol i would have stuffed that question with that one good thing about the calc that u can use it would be pretty easy to work out u just have to remember how to convert

so 30% would be 3/10 or 0.3
1/32 would be 0.03125 which is 30.125%
1/3 is 0.33333333 or 33.3%
8/25 is 0.32 or 32% so its 32/100 which can be simpified to 8/25 by dividing by 4 its the simplest fraction

if u need any other help i've got a lot of time on my hands lol

[butterfly_warrior]

JwithJ has the right idea... as soon as you're trying to compare fractions/decimals and percentages, change them all to the same thing. Changing to decimals or percentages is usually easier as with fractions you need to then make sure the denominators (bottom numbers) are all the same.

Really, they aren't that scary if you've got a good scientific calculator with you - as long as you know how to use it properly.

I'm tackling the washing tomorrow morning but will try to lurk around the computer as much as possible through the day if you come up with specific questions/topics.

I could give you a formula to work out the raffle ticket question quicker, but it's probably best at this point to keep things simple and not load you down with too many formulas - using methods you already know or can think through is probably the best plan of attack at this stage.

BW

[JwithJ]

agreed KISS keep it simple stupid is always the best method lol

[Freya]

One question - how to work out percentage when there is no % button on the calculator. I know its something like ___/___x___ right?

[Astrolady]

Damn I am lost. No wonder why I failed Maths !!. Good luck Anna

Originally Posted by JwithJ

with that question its all of them so yeah i can see how that confusing

edit sorry i stuffed up didnt read properly lol its 8/25 lol i would have stuffed that question with that one good thing about the calc that u can use it would be pretty easy to work out u just have to remember how to convert

so 30% would be 3/10 or 0.3
1/32 would be 0.03125 which is 30.125%
1/3 is 0.33333333 or 33.3%
8/25 is 0.32 or 32% so its 32/100 which can be simpified to 8/25 by dividing by 4 its the simplest fraction

if u need any other help i've got a lot of time on my hands lol

[Kate07]

Originally Posted by AnnaT

One question - how to work out percentage when there is no % button on the calculator. I know its something like ___/___x___ right?

Yep. e.g.

Question: change 3/4 to %

Answer: 3 / 4 x 100 = 75%

[Freya]

Thanks Kate I thought it would be top divided by bottom times 100.

[JwithJ]

true all u do is convert to decimal then percantage if u dont want to do it all in one step