Last Monday, we took part in a Canadian Math Competition. At the beginning, it was quite nervous and people were chatting anxiously. When we received our answer sheets and booklets, I felt more relaxed as I started to do the math. The first few questions were quite simple, but as I worked on, they got harder and harder. I managed to complete most of the questions with some confidence. I thought I did really good at the beginning, but not so good at the end. I tried not to guess any questions, but some of them I wasn't sure about. I felt that I did really good and it was easier than I thought, but when we went over a question I was confident about, I discovered that I got it wrong. I will show you one question that was on the contest that I liked and how I solved it:
12. The price for each item at the Gauss Gadget Store has been reduced by 20% from its original price. An MP3 player has a sale price of $112. What would the same MP3 player sell for if it was on sale for 30% off its original price?
A.) $78.40 B.) $100.80 C.) $89.60 D.) $168.00 E.) $98.00
First, to solve this problem, you have to figure out how much the MP3 player cost at full price. Because I forgot how I solved this problem two months ago, I will use the tried and true guess-and-check method. You just multiply a number by 0.8 until you get 112. First, I plugged in 150 and got 120. Then, I tried 145 and got 116. Eventually, I got 140. From here, solving this problem is easy. You just multiply 140 by 0.7 and you will get your answer, which is E.) $98.00.
I did pretty good this time around and hope to do better next year!
Showing posts with label math contest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label math contest. Show all posts
Friday, March 5, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)