How good is your money maths?

inicholson

pjsmiffy wrote: »

I had to put it through excel .
on a 10k example you loose a 1/100 of a penny less if the gain comes first. But that could be the rounding error.

£9605.9601

It's a rounding error. It doesn't matter which order you do multiplication and division unless at some point in the sum you have a figure which cannot be expressed exactly as a decimal and then Excel (or a calculator) will get it wrong.

e.g. 10 x 3 / 3 = 10

but 10 / 3 x 3 = 9.9999999999 in Excel (but 10 if you do it yourself using vulgar fractions)

mummyplus3

I think with my basic grasp of maths and help with the windows calculator that C is the correct answer If you based it on £100 you get around £90 with A, £96ish with B

And D was just wrong

jax1305

so in 4 years time, when the stock market has stayed the same and my investment is worth less because of inflation, I realise that I should've spent it on living the life I could rather than hoping to live a different (but not necessarily better) one later?

Greenfly_3

Happy days. Brain not dead yet!!!

dougz_2

Yes but, if they had made enough taxable capital gains elsewhere, they could offset those profits against the 4 loss years of A or B, thus reducing their tax bill and the net result would be a significant gain in comparison to situation C. If they are wealthier in higher tax band they benefit all the more from this.

Disgustified

I agree with the poster that criticiesed the phrasing, the question is about the stock market scenario, the best return on the stock market over the four years would be achieved if?

"All are equal" could be taken to mean a number of things i.e. All stock market values are equal to what they were at the beginning of the four year period.

The phrasing of a question and the selection of answers provided needs to be clear and not open to the readers interpretation.

Also if you got your calculator out or used a spreadsheet, this does not prove that you are good at maths. My impression was that this was surposed to test the nations understanding, not how resourceful they are.

JimmyTheWig

Disgustified wrote: »

Also if you got your calculator out or used a spreadsheet, this does not prove that you are good at maths. My impression was that this was surposed to test the nations understanding, not how resourceful they are.

I disagree. Those who used a calculator or spreadsheet (assuming they got the right answer!) were good enough at maths to know what the right calculations were.

skiporbox

C. This I know.

fozzeh

Disgustified wrote: »

Also if you got your calculator out or used a spreadsheet, this does not prove that you are good at maths. My impression was that this was surposed to test the nations understanding, not how resourceful they are.

Maths exams always clearly state "Do not use a calculator on this section".

This section did not say this.

You are reading too much into the question.

A: The question is closed ended (it asks you “which of these” and gives you 4 options, nothing else)
B: It gives fixed variables (so does not included external factors in the end outcome, whether they would be applicable in the “real world”)
C: Gives you the option to pick one without looking like a fool.
Whilst A and B can’t be changed, C is always tried to its limits. Jeez Louise!

Next weeks question will be what is 1 plus 1?
Please pipe up with "Well, it would be 2 if you didn’t take RPI and inflation into the equation!"

fozzeh

Here's what everyone got in Excel