SatsMuncher 7: The Miles, Metres and Minutes Challenge   How was your day trip to Paris, France?

Q1.  TO THE AIRPORT! You go to Birmingham airport by taxi.  The taxi meter is counting the number of minutes. It takes one and a half hours.  How many minutes is this? A1.  90 minutes Picture it:  1 1/2 hours means 1 hour AND 1/2 hour ADDED: 1 hour          =    60 minutes 1/2 hour       =    30 minutes   + 1 1/2 hours  =    90 minutes   Q2.  PASSPORT CONTROL You show your passport.  Your passport photo is 40mm long.  How many centimetres is this? A2.  4 centimetres or 4 cm Picture it: Your ruler is probably numbered in centimetres - 1cm is roughly the width of your finger. The tiny gaps between the small divisions are the millimetres - 1mm is roughly the thickness of your thumb nail. 10 mm = 1 cm   So 40 mm is 4 times as big ... 40 mm = 4 cm   Q3.  TAKE OFF! Your plane has taken off.  The journey starts at 7:45 am and lasts for 2 1/4 hours.  At what time do you land? A3.  10:00 am. Picture it:      Add on the 1/4 hour (15 minutes) first to reach 8:00, an easy time.  Then the 2 hours. Estimate it:    7:45 am + 2 1/4 hours is roughly 8:00 am + 2 hours = 10:00 am. Calculate it:   7:45 + 15 minutes = 8:00 am                  8:00 + 2 hours      =  10:00 am.  (exactly equal to estimate!) (Note: 0800 is a 24-hour time.     8:00 is a 12-hour time).

Q4.  THE FLIGHT ... You're skimming the clouds and the food trolley is on the way.  Fantastic - the only black cloud on the horizon is your leg space - there's just not enough.  You check it with your handy pocket-size measuring tape.  You find that you have only 40 cm of leg space.  How much is this in metres? A4.  0.4 m or 0.4 metres Picture it:     100cm = 1m.  You only have 40cm - not enough to make 1 whole metre. So, your answer will be less than 1 - a decimal. Estimate it:  40cm is just under half of 100 cm.  Answer is roughly 1/2 or 0.5 Calculate it:  100 cm = 1 m   40 cm = 40 / 100 = 0.4 cm          (Close to estimate)   Q5.  PLANE TO TRAIN You're in Paris!  Only one short train ride and you'll arrive at your hotel. You board the train at 11:20 am.  The train is slow and takes one hour and twenty five minutes.  At what time do you arrive at Le Royale? A5.  12:45 pm. Picture it:      Add on the 25 minutes first.  Then the 1 hour. Estimate it:   11:20 am + 1hour 25 minutes is roughly equal to ... 11:30 am + 1 hour 30 minutes = 1:00 pm. Calculate it:   11:20 + 25 minutes = 11:45 am                  11:45 + 1 hours      =  12:45 pm.  (EASY TO MISS: After 12 noon, am CHANGES TO pm).    Q6.  TIME TO RELAX After all the travelling, you decide to have a long hot bath.  You find that the sumptuous bath is 6 feet long.  About how many metres is that? A6.  2 metres or 2 m. Picture it:     1 foot: your long school ruler is 30 cm and roughy 12 inches or 1 foot 1 metre: the height of a tall man or half the height of your classroom door              So, a 6-foot bath is rough 6 school rulers, one tall man or 1 classroom door! Estimate it:  3 feet = 1 yard  AND ... 1 yard is roughly 1 metre Convert it:   6 feet = 2 x 1 metre = 2 metres   Q7.  THE EIFFEL TOWER Number one on your list of 'Things to See' is the Eiffel Tower.   The scale on your map is 1 cm to 5 km.  On the map, the Tower is 6 cm from your hotel.  What is the actual distance? A7.  30 centimetres or 30 cm Picture it:      1 centimetre on the map stands for every 5 km.  So 6 cm is 6 lots of 5 km. Calculate it:   6 x 5 km = 30 km   Q8.  THE QUEUE There's a massive queue for the Eiffel Tower!  You have lots of time on your hands so you start counting:  The ratio of men to women in the queue is 5:4.  There are 12 women.  How many men are there? A8.  15 men Picture it:       The ratio of men to women is 5 to 4.  There are 5 men for every 4 women.  So you could divide the queue into groups of 9, each with 5 men and 4 women. So, how many groups do you need for 12 women? -  3 groups with 4 women in each group. So, how many men in 3 groups? Calculate it:  3 x 5 men = 15 men

Q9.  THE MONEY EXCHANGE You've run out of Euros so you go to change some more pounds at the bank.  You get 7 Euros for £5.  How many Euros would you get for £100? A9.  140 Euros Picture it:        £5 for every 7 Euros.   £100 is 20 times £5. So, you also need to make 7 Euros 20 times bigger. Estimate it:      7 x 20 is just over  5 x 20 = 100 Calculate it:     7 x 20 = 7 x 2 x 10 = 140 Euros   Q10.  A BIT OF A SQUASH You decide to end the day in a fabulous cafe.  You order a three course meal (in perfect French) and now you need a long drink of orange squash - but the squash dispensor is empty. The waitor fills it up.  He mixes 2 parts juice to 8 parts water.  How much juice and water does he need to make 20 litres of squash? A10.  4 litres of juice and 16 litres of water. Picture it:        2 parts juice for every 8 parts water means 10 parts in total. -  Now picture it in litres:  2 litres juice + 8 litres water = 10 litres of squash -  Now decide how much juice and water for twice as much:  20 litres ... Calculate it:      20 litres is 2 times 10 litres. -  So you ned to double both juice and water - or it won't taste the same!    4 litres juice + 16 litres water = 20 litres

Your Score

If you didn't quite get off the ground with your taxi fare, passport control or plane journey - don't give up! You've got some learning to do, but you can do it - get focused, get learning your conversion rules and get down to your Year 9 maths lessons.

It might be a pain to remember there's ten millimetres in a centimetre - but your score will shoot up in no time - plus you'll never get lost on taxi fares and plane times again!  

Why not have a go again at the first few questions, but look at the 'Picture it' hints first in the solutions above?

Keep turning up to your fantastic maths lessons and you'll soon convert your Level FOUR to a fabulous FIVE.

Magnificent! You've mastered the menace of measurement, collected the cup for conversion calculations and even triumphed over trading pounds for euros - a superb Level 6 score, or maybe even higher!

What Next? - You Can:

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