Computation and practical arithmetic
This topic includes:
• review of computation: order of operations, directed numbers, scientific notation, estimation, exact and
approximate answers, rounding correct to a given number of decimal places or significant figures
• efficient mental and by-hand estimation and computation in relevant contexts
• effective use of technology for computation
• orders of magnitude, units of measure that range over multiple orders of magnitude and their use and
interpretation, and the use and interpretation of log to base 10 scales, such as the Richter scale
• use of ratios and proportions, and percentages and percentage change to solve practical problems
• the unitary method and its use to make comparisons and solve practical problems involving ratio and proportion.
Financial arithmetic
This topic includes:
• percentage increase and decrease applied to various financial contexts such as the price to earnings ratios
of shares and percentage dividends, determining the impact of inflation on costs and the spending power of
money over time, calculating percentage mark-ups and discounts, and calculating GST
• applications of simple interest and compound interest
• cash flow in common savings and credit accounts including interest calculation
• compound interest investments and loans
• comparison of purchase options including cash, credit and debit cards, personal loans, and time payments
(hire purchase).
This topic includes:
• review of computation: order of operations, directed numbers, scientific notation, estimation, exact and
approximate answers, rounding correct to a given number of decimal places or significant figures
• efficient mental and by-hand estimation and computation in relevant contexts
• effective use of technology for computation
• orders of magnitude, units of measure that range over multiple orders of magnitude and their use and
interpretation, and the use and interpretation of log to base 10 scales, such as the Richter scale
• use of ratios and proportions, and percentages and percentage change to solve practical problems
• the unitary method and its use to make comparisons and solve practical problems involving ratio and proportion.
Financial arithmetic
This topic includes:
• percentage increase and decrease applied to various financial contexts such as the price to earnings ratios
of shares and percentage dividends, determining the impact of inflation on costs and the spending power of
money over time, calculating percentage mark-ups and discounts, and calculating GST
• applications of simple interest and compound interest
• cash flow in common savings and credit accounts including interest calculation
• compound interest investments and loans
• comparison of purchase options including cash, credit and debit cards, personal loans, and time payments
(hire purchase).