Workplace Math

Presenters: Reda Berry Tristyn Davis

April 2012

Objective

• To gain knowledge about math used in a variety of work place settings including manufacturing, health care, service industry, and construction.

• Skills include problem solving, basic math, percents, mean(average), value of money, integers, geometry (area), graphing

Graph 1

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Graph 6

WelderYour Welding supervisor has decided to offer you a

salary position. Currently you make $20 per hour and work 40 hours per week and 10 hours of overtime at time and a half. You do not receive paid vacation or sick leave; although, you usually take 2 weeks off for vacation and 1 week for sick leave. The salaried position would pay $50,000 a year, but you would not be able to earn overtime; however, you will have to work extra hours. You receive 2 weeks of paid vacation and 2 weeks of sick leave. Which job pays better? Which job would you want to take and why?

Nurse• Your Nursing supervisor has decided to offer you a

salary position. Currently you make $25 per hour and work 40 hours per week. You are able to pick up 2 additional, 8 hour shifts a month. You do not receive paid vacation or sick leave; although, you usually take 2 weeks off for vacation and 1 week of sick leave. The salaried position would pay $53,000 a year, but you would not be able to earn overtime; however, you will have to work extra hours. You would have 2 weeks of paid vacation and 2 weeks of sick leave. Which job pays better? Which job would you want to take and why?

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Sales Representative

You work 35 hours a week at a local department store as a sales representative making $8.50 an hour. You will average $80 a week commission. Your supervisor is offering you a promotion to assistant manager which would increase your hours to 40 a week. In addition, you will earn a salary of $35,000 a year, plus a monthly commission of 1.5 times the weekly sales commission mentioned earlier. What is the better deal and why? Provide an hourly and annual wage comparison.

Waiter/waitress• You have been a waitress for 4 years, work 30 hours

a week, and average $2.50 an hour plus tips. Your tips average $80 a day, but $20 is shared with the wait staff and hostess. The restaurant manager feels you are responsible, decisive, and a team player; therefore, she would like to offer you the assistant manager position which pays a salary of $30,000 a year. It would include a 40 hour work week and healthcare benefits that cost $50 a month. What would be the hourly pay for your current position and the assistant manager position? What would be the difference in your annual pay?

Break

Salary

• You have been applying for a job and now have 2 offers. Each offer is identical in everyway except salary. Job A is offering $31,500 per year with a $500 per year raise. Job B is offering $30,000 per year with a 3 % raise each year on the current year’s salary for 5 years.

• Which job offers the highest salary at the end of 5 years?

Salary

Salary

Salary

• You have been applying for a job and now have 2 offers. Each offer is identical in everyway except salary. Job A is offering $31,500 per year with a $500 per year raise. Job B is offering $30,000 per year with a 3 % raise each year on the current year’s salary for 5 years.

• Which job pays the most money over the 5 year period?

Word Problem Bingo

• Choose 14 of the answers below and place on the Word Bingo Sheet. Add one FREE square.

• $448.01, $715, 16, $750, $19.47, 11,715, 40, $.05, 4,600, - 437, 12.56, 109, 1/10, and 595

• Bingo is achieved across, down, or diagonal

Word Problem Bingo

1. You work as a veterinary assistant. Part of your job is to walk the dogs on a regular basis. Your office has 4 golden retrievers, 3 Boston terriers, 2 poodles and a pug. The golden retrievers and poodles require 2 walks per day. The rest require 1 walk per day. You are required to walk one dog at a time. How many dog walks will you take in a day?

Answer: 16

Word Problem Bingo

2. Sherry’s rent has been increased $65 a month to $780 a month. What had she been paying?

Answer = $715

Word Problem Bingo

3. Three salesmen sold $2,250 worth of power tools. On the average, how much did each of them sell?

Answer = $750

Word Problem Bingo

4. Alba worked 35.5 hours last week. She earned $12.62 and hour. How much money did she earn last week?

Answer: $448.01

Word Problem Bingo

5. At the warehouse where you work, you are in charge of the inventory of math books. You have 725 books in stock. You receive an order for 1,162 books. How many books are now on back order?

Answer = -437

Word Problem Bingo 6. You are a medical office manager reviewing staff salaries at

the end of the year. You are considering a 5% raise for three of your staff. Last year salaries were:

Nurses aid: $29,000 Office manager: $35,000 Technician: $28,000 By how much will your department need to increase their

salary budget next year if all three workers were given the 5% raise?

Answer: $4,600

Word Problem Bingo

7. In your role as a clerk for a jewelry store, you need to pay the store’s bills. The account has a starting balance of $3,578. You write checks totaling $4,173. What is the ending balance in the account?

Answer: - $595

Word Problem Bingo

8 As a carpenter working in a furniture factory, you design a round table with a diameter of 4 feet. In order to figure out how much material is needed to construct the table, you need to compute the arc of the table. What is the area of the table?

Answer: 12.56

Word Problem Bingo

9. You are a customer service representative for an online store. You have to add 5% for sales tax. How much tax do you add for each dollar of the purchase?

Answer: $0.05

Word Problem Bingo

10. You are a quality assurance technician working at a auto brake manufacturing plant. You have to check 2% of the 2000 brake valves produced each shift. There are three 8 hour shifts that each produce between 1,700 and 2,300 brake valves. How many valves do you check during your shift?

Answer: 40

Word Problem Bingo

11.The classrooms in the building where you teach preschool are rented by the school. You are allowed to keep pets in your classroom for a rent increase of 10%. What fraction represents the amount of the extra charge?

Answer: 10/100 = 1/10

Word Problem Bingo

12.You are a carpenter replacing damaged molding. The first piece of molding needs to be 48.25 inches long. The second piece needs to be 60.75 inches long. What is the total length of molding needed in order to replace the two pieces?

Answer: 109

13.You buy roofing shingles in bulk for your business. Each bundle of shingles costs $48 and there are 80 bundles in a pallet. The delivery charge for each pallet is $65. You need one pallet of shingles for each month. How much will a three month supply costs including delivery?

Answer: $11,715

Word Problem Bingo

Word Problem Bingo

14. You are a dry wall taper and have been asked to pick up three extra quart-sized containers of joint compound. You happen to have the exact amount due in cash. You give the store clerk one ten-dollar bill, one five-dollar bill, three one dollar bills, five quarters, three nickels, and seven pennies. How much did you pay for all three containers?

Answer: $19.47

Sources

• Delmar Cengage learning, "Precision Machining Technology." David Lenzi and James Hillwig, 2012

• McGraw Hill, Contemporary “Word Problems, A Real World Approach to Math.” Kenneth Tamarkin, 2011

• The Goodheart-Wilcox Company,"Welding Print Reading." John R. Walker and W. Richard Polanin, 2007