We all use math on a daily basis, whether we are calculating tip at a restaurant, doubling a recipe or figuring out how much that t-shirt would be with a 40% discount. Just this past weekend, I had to use math multiple times in order to complete tasks. In my apartment, I am in charge of bills and household concerns. Our carpet has been looking really bad lately, but we got a flier on our door advertising a special for carpet cleaning. I needed to use math to sell my roommates on this idea!
The deal was $40 for the dining/living room combination, with an extra $10 for each heavily soiled spot. Because my three roommates are on a budget, I had to project the price range we would each pay before they approved booking an appointment. I went around the room, and counted the various areas they might consider "heavily soiled". Because I did not know how many square feet would count as one heavily soiled area, I had to come up with the various possibilities. The area by the door was pretty bad, and I figured it would count as one area at the least, and two at the most. This would be an extra $10-$20. The area around the living room couch was also pretty bad, and it was slightly larger than the one by the door. This could be considered 1-3 heavily soiled areas, equating 10-30 dollars extra. Together, this meant that the minimum "extra charge" would be $20, and the maximum would be $50.
Because the base charge was $40, I added this to the min and max extra charges to get a price range of $60-$90. This sounds like a big price tag for young college students. However, because there are four of us, I divided the range by 4, to get a cost of $15-$22.50 each. I rounded this up to the next multiple of 5 (a little extra wiggle room never hurts) and told my roommates that we could get our carpet cleaned for as low as $15 each, with the absolute max being $25 each. They agreed!
The actual estimate came out to be the minimum projection, $60. I was stoked, because the carpet looked great and the price was a steal. Many people are shocked when getting home repair estimates, but with a few math skills and basic information about the cost of services, this can be avoided. I also used math as a way to successfully present an argument. My roommates may not have agreed if I simply told them I wanted to book a carpet cleaning that would cost between 60 and 100 dollars, but presenting what the individual costs were made it sound more reasonable. (Especially when comparing it with the $125 security deposit we want to get back!).
How do YOU use math in everyday life?
The deal was $40 for the dining/living room combination, with an extra $10 for each heavily soiled spot. Because my three roommates are on a budget, I had to project the price range we would each pay before they approved booking an appointment. I went around the room, and counted the various areas they might consider "heavily soiled". Because I did not know how many square feet would count as one heavily soiled area, I had to come up with the various possibilities. The area by the door was pretty bad, and I figured it would count as one area at the least, and two at the most. This would be an extra $10-$20. The area around the living room couch was also pretty bad, and it was slightly larger than the one by the door. This could be considered 1-3 heavily soiled areas, equating 10-30 dollars extra. Together, this meant that the minimum "extra charge" would be $20, and the maximum would be $50.
Because the base charge was $40, I added this to the min and max extra charges to get a price range of $60-$90. This sounds like a big price tag for young college students. However, because there are four of us, I divided the range by 4, to get a cost of $15-$22.50 each. I rounded this up to the next multiple of 5 (a little extra wiggle room never hurts) and told my roommates that we could get our carpet cleaned for as low as $15 each, with the absolute max being $25 each. They agreed!
The actual estimate came out to be the minimum projection, $60. I was stoked, because the carpet looked great and the price was a steal. Many people are shocked when getting home repair estimates, but with a few math skills and basic information about the cost of services, this can be avoided. I also used math as a way to successfully present an argument. My roommates may not have agreed if I simply told them I wanted to book a carpet cleaning that would cost between 60 and 100 dollars, but presenting what the individual costs were made it sound more reasonable. (Especially when comparing it with the $125 security deposit we want to get back!).
How do YOU use math in everyday life?
RSS Feed