When we go to the shops, we make purchases of items such as groceries, toys, or clothes. Watch this video to see how we work out the total cost of purchases.

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Examples

Example 2

John wants to buy a toy car for \$22.50. Which of the following collections of money could he use so that he will not get any change?

An image showing a 20 dollar note, a 5 dollar note and twp 1 dollar coins

An image showing a 20 dollar note, a 2 dollar coin and a 50 cent coin.

Worked Solution

Create a strategy

Add the value of each note and coin. Use this table of values to help you.

A table showing the value of 2 dollar, 1 dollar, 50 cent, 20 cent, 10 cent and 5 scent coins.

Apply the idea

All notes and gold coins are for dollars, and the silver coins are for cents. To add the values we can write \$5 as 5.00 and 50 cents as 0.50.

For Option A, write the addition of values in a vertical algorithm. and add the digits in each column.

\begin{array}{c} & &2&0&.&0&0 \\ & &&5&.&0&0 \\ &&&1&.&0&0 \\ &+&&1&.&0&0 \\ \hline & &2&7 &. &0&0 \\ \hline \end{array}

The total amount of notes and coins in Option B is \$27.00.

For Option B, write the addition of values in a vertical algorithm and add the digits in each column.

\begin{array}{c} & &2&0&.&0&0 \\ & &&2&.&0&0 \\ &+&&0&.&5&0 \\ \hline & &2&2 &. &5&0 \\ \hline \end{array}

The total amount of notes and coins in Option B is \$22.50.

To not get any change we need the amount to equal exactly \$22.50. So the answer is Option B.

Idea summary

To add money we can write the values as decimals and add them using a vertical algorithm.

If we pay for an item with the exact amount of money that the item costs, then we will not get any change back.

Change

If you buy something at a shop, you may need the shopkeeper to give you change. We can count up to work out how much change we should get.

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Examples

Example 3

Which of the following shows the change you would get, if you paid with \$40 and spent \$23.50?

An image showing 3 5 dollar notes, a 2 dollar coin and a 50 cent coin.

An image showing a 10 dollar note, a 5 dollar note and 3 50 cent coins.

Worked Solution

Create a strategy

Find how much would be the change and compare it to the total amount of money in each option. Change can be found by subtracting the amount spent from the amount paid.

Apply the idea

To find the change we can count up from \$23.50 to \$40.

We would need to count up by another 50 cents to get to \$24. Then if we count up by 6 we get to 30. Then if we count up by 10 we get to 40.

\displaystyle \text{Change}	\displaystyle =	\displaystyle 50\text{ cents} + \$6 + \$10	Add the amounts we counted up by
	\displaystyle =	\displaystyle \$16.50	Add the values

For option A, we can add all the dollars first:

\displaystyle 5+5+5+2

\displaystyle =

\displaystyle 17

Add the dollar values

Then if we also add the 50 cents we get \$17.50.

For option B, we can add all the dollars first:

\displaystyle 10+5

\displaystyle =

\displaystyle 15

Add the dollar values

Now we have three 50 cent coins left. Two of them make \$1 so we can add that to \$15 to get 15+1=\$16

Then if we also add the last 50 cents we get \$16.50. This is equal to the change we found earlier so the answer is Option B.

Idea summary

We can add up the cost of each item we are purchasing to find the total.
We can calculate the change by finding the difference between the amount we spent and the amount we paid with.

Outcomes

VCMNA133

Recall addition facts for single-digit numbers and related subtraction facts to develop increasingly efficient mental strategies for computation

VCMNA137

Represent money values in multiple ways and count the change required for simple transactions to the nearest five cents

5.04 Calculate with money

Ideas

Are you ready?

Examples

Example 1

Calculate with money

Examples

Example 2

Change

Examples

Example 3

Outcomes

VCMNA133

VCMNA137

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