E Math Problems in Real World Context Revision Questions

1 Mr Wong is thinking of applying for a credit card that gives the most savings in terms of dining,
grocery and petrol. His gross monthly expenses (before any discounts) are listed in the table
below:

Type of Expenses Amount ($)

Petrol 350
Grocery 100
Dining 400

After doing some research, he decided to narrow his options to the three cards listed below:

Credit Card Savings on Petrol Saving on Dining Savings on Grocery

CBSH Card 14% upfront discount 5% cash rebate on 5% cash rebate on
plus 5% cash rebate (on dining expenses with grocery expenses with
monthly petrol monthly minimum monthly minimum
expenses) with monthly spending of $600 on the spending of $600 on the
minimum spending of CBSH card CBSH card
$600 on the CBSH card

BSOP Card 15% upfront discount 5% cash rebate on all 5% cash rebate on
plus 6% cash rebate (on dining expenses with grocery expenses
monthly petrol minimum monthly
expenses) with spending of $1000 on
minimum spending of the BSOP Card
$1000 on BSOP Card

CBCO Card 14% upfront discount 5% cash rebate on all 5% cash rebate on
plus 4.3% cash rebate dining expenses with grocery expenses with
(on monthly petrol monthly minimum monthly minimum
expenses) with monthly spending of $800 on the spending of $800 on the
minimum spending of CBCO Card CBCO Card
$800 on the CBCO
Card plus 2.1% cash
rebate (on monthly
petrol expenses) with
monthly minimum
spending of $400 on
petrol

Which credit card should Mr Wong apply for so as to maximise his savings, given that he can
only apply for one card and this card is to be used only for these three types of expenses?
Show your working clearly. [8]
2 For a Parent Teacher Conference, a school has to convert the parade square into a parking lot. The
parade square is a rectangular plot of land 40 m by 30 m.

There is a 6 m wide entrance / exit at one corner of the parade square as shown in the sketch
above.
You are required to do the parking arrangements.

The Land Transport Authority recommends the following guidelines.

A Parking Stall refers to the space for parking of one motorcar, that is, a car parking lot. The
space of the stall should be rectangular. The longer side is known as the length and the shorter side
is the width.
A Parking Aisle refers to an access lane or driveway with adjacent parking stalls.

In parallel parking, the longer side is parallel to the parking aisle or driveway. The aisle for cars to
move must be at least 3.6 m.
For two-way traffic flow, the width of the aisle must be at least 6 m.
Each parking stall is 5.4 m by 2.4 m.

In 90 parking, the longer side is perpendicular to the parking aisle or driveway.
The aisle or lane for cars to move must be at least 6 m for one-way traffic flow and at least 6.6 m
for two-way traffic flow.
Each parking stall is 4.8 m by 2.4 m.

Propose a possible parking arrangement that would maximise the use of space, showing your
calculations clearly.
Your proposal must include a sketch, not drawn to scale, indicating the location of the parking
stalls, the aisles and the type(s) of parking.
You should allow for cars to enter and leave the parade square at any time.
You can assume that the cars will not leave in large numbers at any one time, and the parking will
be supervised by security guards. [10]
3 Timothy lives in Pasir Ris and commutes to work to Bukit Gombak via taxi.
Information of the taxi’s charges for ComfortDelGro taxi in Singapore are shown below.

ComfortDelGro Taxi
Hyundai Sonata Toyota Prius Limousine Cab
Flag-down Fares $3.20 $3.90 $3.90
(inclusive of 1st
km or less)
Distance Fares Every 400m thereafter or less up to 10 km
Every 350m thereafter or less after 10 km
22 cents 22 cents 30 cents
Waiting time Every 45 seconds of waiting or less:
22 cents 22 cents 30 cents
Timed Peak hour Surcharge:
Surcharges
6.00am to 9.29am (Mon – Fri) – 25% of total metered fare.
Midnight Surcharge:

Midnight to 5.59am (All days) – 50% of total metered fare.

(a) On a Tuesday morning, Timothy took a Hyundai Sonata ComfortDelGro Taxi from Pasir
Ris at 8.17am to work, and reached at 8.52am. The distance of the trip was 31.6 km, with a
waiting time of 7 minutes and 45 seconds incurred.
Calculate Timothy’s fare for this trip to work. [3]

(b) On another occasion, Timothy ended work at midnight. Since he can claim up to 60% of
his taxi fare from the company, he decided to take a Limousine Cab back to his parents’
house. The total stopping time in between traffic light is 4 minutes. After the
reimbursement from the company, Timothy had to pay $13.50 himself for the ride.
Calculate the maximum distance travelled from his company to his parents’ house. [7]
4 Mr and Mrs Tan bought a 3-bedroom unit at a newly launched condominium project at
Serangoon. The unit has a floor area of 1152 square foot (sqft). The selling price for the unit is at
$1494 per sqft. The developer gives a 5% early bird discount to all buyers.

(a) Calculate the price that they paid for the unit. [1]

Mr and Mrs Tan are both Singapore citizens and they also owned a HDB 5-room flat and they do
not have any intention of selling their flat. As such, they will have to pay Additional Buyer’s
Stamp Duty (ABSD) to the government on top of the Buyer’s Stamp Duty (BSD). Table 1 shows
the BSD rate and Table 2 shows the ABSD rate.

Based on purchase price Rate

Based on Rate SC buying first residential NA
purchase price property
First $180 000 1% SC buying second residential 12%
Next $180 000 2% property
Next $640 000 3% SC buying third residential 15%
Remaining amount 4% property
Table 1
Table 2
*SC denotes Singapore Citizens

(b) Calculate the total Buyer’s Stamp Duty paid by Mr and Mrs Tan. [4]

Mr and Mrs Tan made a 20% down-payment based on the amount paid for the unit obtained in
(a). For the remaining amount, which exclude the total Buyer’s Stamp Duty, they had decided to
sign up either for a 20-years Home Loan plan from CBCO Bank or a 30-years Home Loan plan
from BSOP Bank.

Simple Interest Rate for CBCO Bank Simple Interest Rate for BSOP Bank

Loan period: 20 years Loan period: 30 years

1st year: 2nd year: 1st year: 2nd year:
2.18% p.a. 2.18% p.a. 1.95% p.a. 1.95% p.a.
Thereafter: 2.68% p.a. Thereafter: 2.15% p.a.

(c) Given that Mr and Mrs Tan can only afford a monthly instalment of not more than $6000,
determine which bank they should take their loan from.
Support your answer with appropriate workings. [5]
5 The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a comprehensive social security savings scheme funded by
contributions from both employers and employees. It is a key pillar of Singapore’s social security
system, and serves to meet the citizen’s retirement, housing and healthcare needs.
The table below shows the current CPF contribution rate for Singapore Citizens and Permanent
Residents.

Employee’s age Monthly Contribution Rates from 1 Jan 2016

(years) (for gross monthly income  $750)
By Employer By Employee Total
(% of income) (% of income) (% of income)
55 and below 17 20 37
Above 55 to 60 13 13 26
Above 60 to 65 9 7.5 16.5
Above 65 7.5 5 12.5

(a) Brandon, a Singapore Citizen, aged 25 years, earns a gross monthly income of $3650.
Calculate the total amount that contributes to Brandon CPF’s account every month. [1]

(b) The monthly CPF contribution goes into three accounts.

The table below provides information on the accounts and the ratio of contribution.

Account Type Ratio of

contribution
Ordinary Account (OA) 0.6217
Primarily for housing needs.
Special Account (SA) 0.1621
Primarily for retirement needs.
Medisave Account (MA) 0.2162
Primarily for healthcare needs.

Calculate the monthly amount that goes into Brandon’s OA, giving your answer to the
nearest cent. [1]
 (c) Brandon is intending to purchase a new 3-room flat.

He found the following information online.

Average Price of New Flats in 3rd Quarter of 2018

3-room 4-room 5-room/Executive
$270 000 $350 000 $410 000

Administration Fees Payable for Purchase of a New Flat

Type of fee Amount
Option Fee 4/5-room and Executive Flat: $2000
3-room: $1000
Option Fee is paid when you book your flat. It 2-room: $1000
is based on the flat type that is booked.
Downpayment 10% of purchase price of flat
Stamp Duty on Agreement for Lease First $180,000: 1%
Next $180,000: 2%
A duty levied on the legal recognition of Remaining Amount: 3%
certain documents. It is based on the purchase
price of the flat.
Conveyancing fee for sale of flat First $30,000: $0.90 per $1000
Next $30,000: $0.72 per $1000
Legal costs involved when buying/selling a Remaining Amount: $0.60 per $1000
flat. It is based on the purchase price of the
flat. Please note that conveyancing fees are
subjected to 7% GST.

Caveat registration fee $64.45 (Inclusive of GST)

A caveat is lodged with the Singapore Land

Authority to protect your interest in the flat.
This is done by giving notice of your interest
pending the Lease registration.
Administration fees can be paid using funds in the CPF OA.

Brandon wishes to pay the administration fees completely from his OA account. He currently has
$6000 in his OA.
Suggest the number of years that Brandon will need to accumulate sufficient money in his OA to
pay for the administration fees. [7]
6 A soda can may be modelled as a cylinder with a closed top and a hollow hemisphere hollowed in
at the base of the can as shown in the diagram below.

Information about the model of the soda can is given below.

Height, H = 12.4 cm

Inner diameter (D1) of base = 6.7 cm

Outer diameter (D2) of base = 7.9 cm

Mass of empty can = 15 g

(a) Using the model of the soda can in the diagram above, calculate the total surface area and
volume of the soda can. [7]
(b) Harry uses a shopping basket to transport the soda cans filled with carbonated drink.

The soda cans will be placed with the base of the can lying on the base of the basket then
stacked up vertically within the basket.

For safety reasons, all the soda cans must be contained inside the shopping basket. The
maximum load that the shopping basket can carry is 55 pounds.

The shopping basket can be modelled by a frustrum of an inverted pyramid as shown in

the diagram below.

The frustrum above is obtained by removing the top portion of an inverted right
rectangular pyramid. The flat rectangular base of the frustum has length 40 cm and width
25 cm. The remaining vertical height is 27 cm. The flat rectangular top of the frustum is 48
cm by 30 cm.

Other Useful Information

• Density of carbonated drink = 1.3 g/cm3
• 1 pound = 0.45 kg
• Mass = Volume × Density
• Safety information: Soda can is filled with carbonated
drink up to a maximum of 90% of its total volume.

Assuming that each soda can is filled with carbonated drink to the maximum safe volume,
find the maximum number of soda cans Harry can transport with the shopping basket at
any one time.
Justify your answer with mathematical calculations. [8]
7 Mr Tan runs a medical hall. He wants to create a bottle to store ointment. The bottle consists of 2
parts.

• A cylindrical bottle, opened at one end, of external radius 3 cm, external height 8 cm and
thickness of x millimetres throughout.
• A solid disc of height 1 cm that fits nicely into the opening of the bottle and is used to cover
the bottle.

The material used to make the cylindrical bottle and the cover of the bottle costs $380 per cubic
metre.

By changing the thickness throughout the bottle, Mr Tan can change the volume of ointment in
the bottle.

(a) In the case that the thickness of the cylindrical bottle is 10 millimetres, work out the cost
of the bottle. [3]

(b) Considering that Mr Tan fixes a thickness of x millimetres throughout,

a. Show that the volume of the ointment in the container is
𝜋
(30 − 𝑥)2 (70 − 𝑥) cm3. [2]
1000

b. Explain why 0 < x < 30. [2]

(c) Mr Tan wants to make a bottle that have a capacity of at least 120 cm3. By drawing a
suitable graph, work out the maximum cost in making the bottle. [7]