MILLIONS of adults are unable to answer questions on a GCSE maths paper
designed for 15-year-olds, are you one of them?
When parents attempted to answer a sample GCSE paper, around 40 per cent gave
the wrong answers.
Take the five-question test below and see how you do, the answers will be
revealed further down.
Question one
An ordinary, fair dice is rolled 420 times. How many times is the number 3
expected?
a) 140
b) 210
c) 70
Question two
50 raffle tickets are sold for 25p each. The winning ticket is picked at
random. Linda buys 14 tickets. What is the probability that Linda buys the
winning ticket?
a) 1/4
b) 7/25
c) 1/50
Question three
There were some people on a train. 19 people get off at the first stop. 17
people get on. Now there are 63 people on the train. How many people were on
the train to begin with?
a) 65
b) 36
c) 62
Question four
40% is the same as:
a) 2/5
b) 4/1
c) 4/5
Question five
A computer costs £800 before VAT. If VAT is 17.5%, how much VAT will you have
to pay?
a) £140
b) £175
c) £817.50
So how did you find the test?
Don’t worry if you struggled as almost half of adults who took it for a
survey, answered incorrectly.
And 90 per cent of adults admitted they have trouble completing essential
every day maths puzzles, the .
Are you ready to find out the answers – this is your last chance to try the
questions.
Here are the answers:
Question one
The probability of the dice landing on any number (including three) is 1/6.
Divide 420 by 6 and you get 70.
Question two
Linda has 14 of the 50 existing tickets, so she has a 14/50 chance of winning.
We can simplify this fraction by reducing it to 7/25.
Question three
To find the number, subtract 17 from 63, then add 19 and you get 65.
Question four
Half of 40% = 20%, which equates to one fifth. Therefore 40% is equal to 2/5.
Question five
17.5% of 800 = 140. You would have to pay £940 in total
, a campaign
that aims to inspire people to study Science and Maths, commissioned the
survey of 2,000 adults in May.
Although the inability to pass a GCSE exam as an adult could seem
insignificant, the results show it can create difficulties in later life.
Worryingly, a quarter of people surveyed said they find it difficult to count
their change after purchasing an item.
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And seven out of 10 people have trouble working out a financial budget.
Meanwhile, three quarters of adults said it is a challenge to convert
measurement units.
Lacking in maths skills has also stopped some from working out if they
received the correct salary.
And 70 per cent admitted they wouldn’t know to calculate if they have been
taxed correctly on their payslip.
In light of the findings it’s no surprise that parents could be tempted to
avoid helping their kids with maths.
Around 60 per cent of parents claimed they face problems helping their
children with their homework.
However, the nation appears to be more confident with words as two thirds of
adults revealed they are good with English.
Edwina added: “It seems to be hard-wired into our culture, we would never
admit to being illiterate, so why do seem to be happy to shrug our shoulders
when it comes to numbers?”