This document provides study notes on various math concepts including money, interest rates, exchange rates, and VAT (value added tax). It discusses estimating bills by rounding numbers, comparing value between deals by calculating unit prices, and calculating interest using the fraction and decimal methods. Exchange rates are explained as well as how to convert between currencies. VAT is defined as a tax on goods and services charged by the government, and methods are provided for calculating VAT on an item's price. A question is also included asking what town in County Clare has shops with a reduced VAT rate.

1. MATHS STUDY NOTES
Strand Unit: Money
Strand: Measures

2. Guidelines for supporting learning
Monday and Tuesday Pg 119,120
1. To estimate a bill round the numbers eg. 29c becomes 30c
2. When taking a number from a set amount eg. €10 make sure and
convert everything to decimals, so €10 becomes €10.00. For ye
brightsparks try it mentally and check your answer with a calculator!
3. When looking for what is the best value between two deals you
always compare like with like. If 7 apples cost €2.45 and 5 apples cost
€1.80 the key to finding out what deal is better value is to find what
one apple costs in both cases. Dividing by 7 into the first total and 5
into the second total will reveal what is the best value deal.

3. Wednesday Pg 121
Banks lend money to people and charge interest on this money to make a profit. In
your mathemagic the interest is calculated on amounts of €100. A rate of 10% means
you pay €10 on every €100 you borrow every year.
Sample Question= Find the interest on the following amount €400 for 2 years at 15%
Method 1: Fraction Method ( Of Rule)
Step 1: Turn the % into a fraction, so 15% becomes 15 over 100
Step 2: Get a fraction of €400, so 100 into €400 is 4, multiply 4 by 15 equals €60. €60 is
the interest for one year, so 2 years interest is found by multiplying €60 by 2. Interest
over 2 years is €120
Step 3: Add interest to what you borrowed, so €400 plus €120 is equal to €520
or
Method 2: Decimal Method. Change 15% to decimal, so 15% becomes 0.15
Of also means multiply, so 0.15 x €400 = €60
€60 x 2 = €120
€120 + €400= €520

4. Thursday Pg 122 Exchange Rates
Discuss at home what you know about currencies around the world. Research about currencies from the past,
particularly before the euro. What was the currency in Ireland before the euro? What was the old currency in Italy,
France etc
The exchange rate tells everybody the value of money in relation to other currencies. In Ireland we are part of the
Eurozone, but we need to keep a close eye on the exchange rate when we are travelling to non euro countries eg.
UK, U.S.A.
1. To convert an amount of euro to other currencies multiply the exchange rate by the number of euro
Example: If one euro is equal to £0.64 in sterling (British currency) then if you want to know what €10 is worth in
sterling multiply €10 by £0.64, so the answer is £6.40
2. To convert other currencies to the euro, we divide the amount of foreign currency by the exchange rate
You may use a calculator doing these sums

5. Friday Pg 123 VAT
VAT stands for Value added tax. The government charges tax on goods and services in Ireland. The rate of VAT is 23% on
goods in Ireland at the moment not 21% as it states in the book, so for your sums use the 23% figure.
Method for finding VAT on a good in Ireland
Question: The price of a tv excluding VAT is €280. What is the price of the tv including VAT
Step 1: Turn % into a fraction, so 23% becomes 23 over 100
Step 2: Get fraction of price, so divide 100 into €280 which equals €2.80, multiply €2.80 by 23 which equals €64.40. €64.40
is equal to the VAT.
Step 3: Add the VAT to €280, so the tv in reality will cost €384
What town in County Clare has a shop which charges a reduced rate of VAT on goods??
Clue: Our school band was there this year!