Calculating Money

Q: What does the decimal point in £3.68 mean?

The decimal point splits a price into pounds and pence. The number before it is the pounds, and the number after it is the pence. So £3.68 means 3 whole pounds plus 68 pence, because 1 pound is made up of 100 pence.

Q: How do you work out change from a £10 note?

Subtract the price from £10. If the price has pence in it and £10 does not, swap 1 pound for 100 pence first. For example, £10 take away £5.17 becomes £9 take away £5, plus 100 pence take away 17 pence, which gives £4.83.

Q: Can you divide money two different ways?

Yes. You can divide the pounds and the pence separately, then combine the two answers. You can also turn the whole amount into pence, divide by the number sharing, and convert the answer back. For example, £9.60 shared by 3 friends gives £3.20 each by either method.

Q: Why do you convert 100 pence into 1 pound?

Money in the UK uses a decimal system where 100 pence equals 1 pound. When the pence add up to 100 or more, the answer is tidier when the extra pounds are moved across. This keeps a price like £5.17 in its standard form, instead of writing 117 pence.

Key concept

Calculating money means splitting each price into pounds and pence, since £1 = 100p, so £3.68 = £3 + 68p. This lets you add, subtract, multiply, and divide any prices, converting extra pence back into pounds.

Video Lesson

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$Calculating Money poster$

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Flashcards

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A cartoon with a sandwich priced at £3.68, illustrating UK currency conversion of pounds to pence, and showing how £3.68 equals £3 plus 68p.

Calculation of adding £3.68 and £1.49 by separating pounds and pence, demonstrating the result as £5.17.

Subtracting money in UK currency with pounds and pence, and step-by-step calculation of £10 minus £5.17 to find the difference of £4.83.

Calculating the price of 8 chocolate bars, each costing £1.20, by multiplying 8 by £1.20, resulting in £9.60.

Calculating £9.60 divided by 3 step by step using pounds and pence, resulting in £3.20.

Understanding Money and Prices

Money is measured using pounds (£) and pence (p).
£ $1 = 100 p$ , for example £ $3.68 = 368 p$ .

Practice Questions

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Progress1 / 6

Q1Easy

If a coffee costs £2.50, what is the equivalent amount in pence?

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Interactive Activity

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£2

POUNDS

50p

PENCE

£1

20p

Money Adder

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Students Also Ask

The questions students bump into most on this topic

How many pence are in one pound?

There are exactly 100 pence in one pound. This means £1 is the same as 100p, and every 100 pence you collect can be converted back into 1 whole pound. The decimal point on a price tag like £3.68 separates the whole pounds from the pence.

What does the decimal point in £3.68 mean?

The decimal point splits a price into pounds and pence. The number before it is the pounds, and the number after it is the pence. So £3.68 means 3 whole pounds plus 68 pence, because 1 pound is made up of 100 pence.

How do you work out change from a £10 note?

Subtract the price from £10. If the price has pence in it and £10 does not, swap 1 pound for 100 pence first. For example, £10 take away £5.17 becomes £9 take away £5, plus 100 pence take away 17 pence, which gives £4.83.

Can you divide money two different ways?

Yes. You can divide the pounds and the pence separately, then combine the two answers. You can also turn the whole amount into pence, divide by the number sharing, and convert the answer back. For example, £9.60 shared by 3 friends gives £3.20 each by either method.

Why do you convert 100 pence into 1 pound?

Money in the UK uses a decimal system where 100 pence equals 1 pound. When the pence add up to 100 or more, the answer is tidier when the extra pounds are moved across. This keeps a price like £5.17 in its standard form, instead of writing 117 pence.

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