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Copyright © 3P Learning – These resources have been created in partnership with Dr. Marian Small.
For more information visit
www.mathletics.comQuestions to facilitate the learning
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What is the least amount of money you could get back?
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What is the greatest amount of money you could get back?
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Could you get back an exact amount of dollars? Why or why not?
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Could your price have been $[ ]. 50? Why or why not?
Scaffolding the learning
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Could you get a $20 note back? A $10 note?
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What choices are there for the note you get back? For the coins?
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What choices of coins would make the problem really easy for you? Why?
What’s the point of this task?
Being able to solve problems involving money is clearly a useful task. What makes this problem interesting
is that students have enough choice in deciding what notes and coins they get back that the problem is
appropriate for almost any student. For example, students can choose to have all the coins the same to
make the problem easier or they can consider other possibilities to make the problem more complex.
In jurisdictions where the lowest note is $5, students have to realise that a $5 note is the only possibility for
what they get back. In other jurisdictions, it could be either $1 or $5.
Extending the learning
Students might give the cashier $20 and get back 2 notes and 6 coins. There are many more possibilities
for the cost of the gift than is the case with the original problem.
Getting Change
Number