Working out energy bills and direct debits

1235

Comments

  • Smodlet
    Smodlet Posts: 6,976 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    edited 6 December 2017 at 7:22PM
    Isn't it great to know just how well our taxes are being wasted? Were I an employer, I would not interview anyone who could not pass maths and literacy tests I would set as, clearly, the education system is failing us; otherwise there would be no need for some National Numeracy organisation. Some of the posts on here have appalled, though not surprised me.
  • Anthorn
    Anthorn Posts: 4,362 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Nick_C wrote: »
    If only it was that easy though.

    Your gas usage is probably shown in cubic meters. You need to use a conversion factor (constant) and then adjust for the calorific value (variable) before you get to your KWh usage.

    I consider myself highly numerate, but estimating the annual cost of gas is far from straightforward. You need good skills as well if you want to do this on a spreadsheet.

    Actually not really all that difficult. For an approximate idea of how much gas you're using deduct the previous meter reading from the current reading to give the cubic metres used and then multiply it by 40 to give kWh and then multiply that by your tariff.
  • reeac
    reeac Posts: 1,430 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Some years ago SWMBO and I were buying coffee, possibly in an airport, when the till stopped working. This caused great panic because the barrista couldn't add up our order. She took our word for it but it makes you think , with all the stock control as well as finance that modern tills carry out, that reliability of these systems is critical.
  • Shrimply
    Shrimply Posts: 869 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Smodlet wrote: »
    I would not interview anyone who could not pass maths and literacy tests I would set as

    If my qualifications were not enough proof of my capabilities then I doubt I'd want you as my employer.

    I find some of the stories on here a bit sad they all start "on one occasion something happened at a checkout...." I did spend a short time working at Aldi (at that point you still had to remember all the codes for the produce and had to calculate the change for yourself as the tills didn't).
    If you have spent a long shift on a till your brain is completely frazzled, you are under pressure because of the queue and the customer chiming in trying to "help" you out. Then you have customers giving you daft amounts of money for the sake of them having a coin or two less in their pocket. If the till has broken you are also trying to figure out how to fix it and what you are going to do about it. The barrista above probably didn't even know how much the drinks actually cost, because she doesn't have to. And then we make snap judgements on the ability of these people based on these incidents.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,093 Community Admin
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Shrimply wrote: »
    If my qualifications were not enough proof of my capabilities then I doubt I'd want you as my employer.

    I find some of the stories on here a bit sad they all start "on one occasion something happened at a checkout...." I did spend a short time working at Aldi (at that point you still had to remember all the codes for the produce and had to calculate the change for yourself as the tills didn't).
    If you have spent a long shift on a till your brain is completely frazzled, you are under pressure because of the queue and the customer chiming in trying to "help" you out. Then you have customers giving you daft amounts of money for the sake of them having a coin or two less in their pocket. If the till has broken you are also trying to figure out how to fix it and what you are going to do about it. The barrista above probably didn't even know how much the drinks actually cost, because she doesn't have to. And then we make snap judgements on the ability of these people based on these incidents.

    Taking your logic a step further, then why bother teaching mathematics at all? Clearly, youngsters do not need to be educated, they just need to be trained on the various electronic tools at their disposal. We are not talking about calculus or algebra here, we are talking about simple addition; subtraction; multiplication and division. the sort of skills that every child leaving primary school should, in my opinion, have.

    Time to start the car.
  • Shrimply
    Shrimply Posts: 869 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Hengus wrote: »
    Taking your logic a step further, then why bother teaching mathematics at all? Clearly, youngsters do not need to be educated, they just need to be trained on the various electronic tools at their disposal. We are not talking about calculus or algebra here, we are talking about simple addition; subtraction; multiplication and division. the sort of skills that every child leaving primary school should, in my opinion, have.

    I don't think I said anything like you appear to think I have said. What logic are you talking about? Because all I said was that peoples abilities shouldn't be judged over single incidents in possible stressful situations.
  • matelodave
    matelodave Posts: 8,606 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic First Post
    Shrimply wrote: »
    I don't think I said anything like you appear to think I have said. What logic are you talking about? Because all I said was that peoples abilities shouldn't be judged over single incidents in possible stressful situations.

    I might challenge that if the people I were judging were an airline pilot or surgeon.
    However the incidences here are what most of us should be able to do without even thinking, a bit like walking and talking at the same time.
    Most of these people are quite capable of mastering their mobile phones or other technology without being taught so it shouldn't be difficult to learn basic arithmetic
    Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers
  • teddysmum
    teddysmum Posts: 9,471 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    They started chipping away at the maths syllabus, when calculus was removed from O level before the combination with CSE to GCSE.


    Calculus wasn't much/any use to futures non-maths or physics students, but it sorted the brighter mathematicians out and gave the other some brain exercise.
  • Shrimply
    Shrimply Posts: 869 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    edited 8 December 2017 at 10:26AM
    teddysmum wrote: »
    They started chipping away at the maths syllabus, when calculus was removed from O level before the combination with CSE to GCSE.


    Calculus wasn't much/any use to futures non-maths or physics students, but it sorted the brighter mathematicians out and gave the other some brain exercise.

    So I do have to say that I was educated in Scotland and it does sound like there were a few
    differences. Sadly there has been recent changes to the Scottish curriculum which I don't think were for the best. But certainly the situation with teachers being properly qualified has never been an issue.

    In regard to the other statements, I'm glad that everyone of the older generation that has posted here think that they are perfect and never flounder over simple calculations. Personally, I am of the school of thought where I known that I can do these calculations mentally but it is not my strong suit. I'd rather use computers to deal with trivial mathematics while I spend my time on the problems that said computers can't answer rather than waste me time doing simple calculations with well established mathematical answers.
  • reeac
    reeac Posts: 1,430 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Shrimply wrote: »
    If my qualifications were not enough proof of my capabilities then I doubt I'd want you as my employer.

    I find some of the stories on here a bit sad they all start "on one occasion something happened at a checkout...." I did spend a short time working at Aldi (at that point you still had to remember all the codes for the produce and had to calculate the change for yourself as the tills didn't).
    If you have spent a long shift on a till your brain is completely frazzled, you are under pressure because of the queue and the customer chiming in trying to "help" you out. Then you have customers giving you daft amounts of money for the sake of them having a coin or two less in their pocket. If the till has broken you are also trying to figure out how to fix it and what you are going to do about it. The barrista above probably didn't even know how much the drinks actually cost, because she doesn't have to. And then we make snap judgements on the ability of these people based on these incidents.

    The point of my contribution was not to criticise the barrista but to point out the consequences of unreliability of tills. OK?
This discussion has been closed.
★ ★ ★ Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 343.1K Banking & Borrowing
  • 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.7K Spending & Discounts
  • 235.2K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 173K Life & Family
  • 247.8K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards