Semester 1 Topic 6 Level I

Task Name : Big Mac Percentages Task Level : I (Year 8)
Semester : 1 Topic : Operations with Fractions VC Strand : Real Numbers
Web Address : http://maths.crusoecollege.vic.edu.au/rnI
Equipment Needed : Access to the internet to access the news article and research.
Victorian Curriculum outcome : Solve problems involving the use of percentages, including percentage increases and decreases, with and without digital technologies.
Task description : The task requires the use of the news article available on the web address above. This article compares the relative costs of various day-to-day items expressed as percentages. For each item, students must calculate the actual cost in dollars for six nations by finding the actual cost of the item in Australia (internet research required). In addition, a seventh nation must be selected that is not available in the news article, where the opposite calculations are required: finding the actual cost in the 7th country and then calculating the relative cost as a percentage.
Assessment options : Photograph of table; digital version of table.
Teacher notes : Donโ€™t allow students to get too hung up on the actual costs of the items: the Mathematics involved is the same regardless of the accuracy of the item cost. For example, finding the cost of sports shoes in Australia will not result in a single result: students will need to judge what a typical sport shoe is and finding the specific cost of that.