MATHEMATICS

Standard form, fractions and direct proportion

GRAIN OF SAND MEASURED AS 8 X 10-2 MM LONG

This week’s work should seem

familiar to you! In number,
unit 1, you covered many of
the topics we are going to
This week’s work cover this week. Number 1
is required to fulfil introduced fractions and this
these topics on week we will be adding,

the syllabus: subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions. In

Number 1, you covered standard form with positive
Topic 2: squares and cubes
(core)
indices, this week, we will go over standard form
with negative indices. (The grain of sand will be
Topic 3: vulgar fractions
mentioned again). Rules of indices naturally follow
Topic 6: standard form on from standard form and ratio and direct
(core)
proportion follow on from fractions. There are 5
Topic 7: the four rules topics this week, so it makes sense to do one topic a
(core)
day!
Topic 10: ratio and
proportion (core)

Topic 12: calculator use

(core)

Topic 16: personal and

household finance (core)

Topic 20: Algebraic

When you have
representation (core) completed this week’s work, you will be able to…

• Add,
Topic 23: subtract,
Indices (core) multiply and divide with fractions • Use the first 3 rules of indices
• Divide amounts in a given ratio • Calculate direct proportion
• express numbers in negative standard form
 Standard form with negative indices
(Monday)

The pictures above will give you a clue about standard form with negative indices. Just as you
learnt in unit 1 that very large numbers can be written in short hand, called standard form, so also,
very small numbers (and very small measurements) can be written using this system.

This is a very easy progression. If you looked at the number 800000, this is 8 multiplied by 10 five
times, so you write it as 8 x 105 using standard form.

0.0000008 is the number 8 divided by 10 seven times. In standard form this is shown with a
negative index as 8 x 10-7

Here is a copy of the place value table from lesson 1:

H T U . 1/10 1/100 1/1000 1/10000

0 . 4

0 . 0 3

0 . 5 5 5

It may help to see that 0.4 is the number 4 divided by 10, so in standard form that would be written
as :

4 x 10-1

The number 0.03 is 3 divided by 100 or, divided by 10 and then 10 again. In standard form, this is
written as 3 x 10-2
So far, you have dealt with whole numbers, but, when writing using standard form, your first
number needs to be between 1 and 10, so this is how it works with a decimal number:

The number 0.555 is the number 5.55 divided by 10 (remember the first number in standard form
must be a number between 1 and 10) so, in standard form, this is written as:

5.55 x 10-1

One of the most common mistakes to make in standard form is not to have the first number
between 1 and 10.

Go...
First, review writing large numbers in standard index form (positive indices)

Read ‘Standard Form’ at the bottom of page 65

Read the notes on ‘positive indices and large numbers’ on pages 66 and 67 and the examples.

Do exercise 7.5, pages 67 and 68

Mark your work

Read the notes on ‘negative indices and small numbers’ on page 68 and the examples

Do exercise 7.6

Mark your work

 Four rules of fractions (Tuesday)
The pictures above will help you to see how very different thirds and tenths are. When adding
fractions, it is very common for students to add 1/3 and 3/10 to get 4/13

In fact, the only way to add fractions is when they have a common denominator. You should
remember that this is the bottom number in a fraction. This number tells us how many parts the
whole has been divided up into. The top number, the numerator, tells us how many pieces we
want.

Subtracting fractions is just as simple:

5/8 - 1/4

Here, the common denominator is 8 as both 4 and 8 divide into it. The first fraction does not need
to be changed. The second fraction needs to be multiplied by 2:

1/4 = 2/8

Now:

5/8 - 2/8 = 3/8

Don’t forget that all answers need to be cancelled down to the simplest terms. This includes stating
top heavy fractions as mixed numbers.

So, if we look at the problem at the top of this page…

1/3 + 3/10 can not be added until there is a common denominator. Since 30 is a common
denominator:

1/3 + 3/10 = 10/30 + 9/30 by multiplying the first fraction by 10 and the second fraction by 3

Now, we can add:

10/30 + 9/30 = 19/30

Multiplying......
What is a half of a half? You should know that this is a quarter. The word ‘of’ in maths means
multiply, so this problem can be written as:

1/2 x 1/2 = 1/4

The simple rule of multiplying fractions is to multiply the top with the top (the two numerators) and
multiply the bottom with the bottom (the two denominators). Here’s a few examples:

1/6 x 2/3 = 2/18 which cancels to 1/9

2/7 x 3/4 = 6/28 which cancels to 3/14

3/2 x 4/5 = 12/10 which is written as 12/10 or 1/1/5

Dividing....

What is half of 8? You know that is 4, but multiplying by a half:

8 x 1/2 = 4

Is the same as dividing by 2:

8÷2=4

You can see that when we divided by 2, it was the same as multiplying by 1/2. This demonstrates
the rule for dividing fractions, that the second fraction is flipped upside down and multiplied
instead. As the number 2 is really 2/1 if put as a vulgar fraction and so flipped upside down, this is
1/2

Look at this example:

7/8 ÷ 2/3 =

7/8 x 3/2 = 21/16 which can be written as 1 and 5/16

Go...
Read notes and examples on page 30

Do exercise 4.1

Mark your work

Read the notes and examples ‘addition and subtraction of fractions’, page 35

Do exercise 4.7 and mark your work – if you are confident with this work, you could reduce to half
the problems.

Read notes and examples ‘multiplication and division of fractions’, page 36

Do exercise 4.8 and mark your work

 Ratio and proportion
(Wednesday and Thursday)

The Golden ratio shown in a snail shown in the Mona Lisa

Ratios are everywhere in nature. It is amazing to see the mathematical picture above, of the
‘golden ratio’ shown in so many observable ways in nature (look at the snail!) Our bodies are so full
of ratios, it’s hard not to be in awe of our Creator! Ratio, and the last topic this week, proportion,
are closely linked. They observe and calculate with the way quantities are linked to each other.
The arm, shown below, demonstrates a ratio throughout the length of the arm, which is repeated in
the hand.
In your text books this week, we are much more involved with sharing amounts of money and
quantities in given ratios. Here’s an example:

A mother wishes to share her apples out amongst her children in the ratio of their ages. If she has
45 apples and three children, aged 3, 5 and 7. How many apples do they each receive?

These type of questions are always solved using the same method:

1) Add up the ratio parts, here the ages are the ratios, so:

3 + 5 + 7 = 15

2) Divide the given amount by this total, here,

45 ÷ 15 = 3

3) Multiply each part of the ratio by this answer to calculate how the total is shared out.

The first child, the 3 year old, receives 3 x 3 = 9 apples

The second child, the 5 year old, receives 5 x 3 = 15 apples

The third child, the 7 year old, receives 7 x 3 = 21 apples

4) Final check, add up the results: 9 + 15 + 21 = 45 apples

This type of question is also known as dividing a quantity in a given ratio.

Ratio is closely linked to direct proportion, which is the last topic this week. Direct proportion
means that as one quantity changes, another, linked quantity, changes in the same direction. For
example, as the outside temperature rises, the sales of sun cream rise. Also, these direct
proportion questions can involve rates. For example, if it takes one man 2 hours to dig a hole, how
many hours will it take him to dig 2 holes? (these are unrealistic ‘ideal’ problems. Clearly, the man
will tire and his productivity will decline!)
One of the most common proportion questions is that of exchange rate - changing one currency for
another.

Remember, when answering these questions, always ask yourself, should I have more of currency x
or currency y? For example, if there were 1.5 Dollars to every Pound and I had 3 Pounds to change
to Dollars, should I have more Dollars than Pounds or the other way around?

Look back at the original ratio, 1.5 Dollars for each Pound, so I should have more Dollars. Therefore,
I need to multiply my 3 Pounds by 1.5 to get 4.50 Dollars. If I were changing from Dollars to
Pounds, I would have to divide by 1.5

The most common problems that students have with proportion questions is multiply instead of
divide and vice versa.

Go...
Read the notes and examples on page 52

Do exercise 6.1 and mark your work

Read the worked example and ‘the ratio method’ and ‘the unitary method’ on page 53

Do exercise 6.2 and mark your work

Read ‘divide a quantity in a given ratio’ and examples on the unitary method on pages 54 and 55

Do exercise 6.3 and mark your work