Adding Fractions Every Day

Adding fractions is an everyday activity, not just for homework. Whether you realize it or not, adding fractions is a key skill for many of the activities you encounter on a daily basis. Without the knowledge of adding fractions, you will have problems in many activities. Fraction calculators can be used to help understand the fundamentals, but first you need to understand the importance.

Adding Fractions for Purchases

When was the last time you spent some money? If you like to get the most bang for your buck, you might keep an eye out for sales. There are all kinds of sales. There are buy-one-get-one sales. There are sales that offer a percentage off of the original price. And, for the sake of this blog post, we can talk about fractional sales. Fractional sales might look like, "Everything ¹/₂ Off!". It could be any amount. You may see sales for ¹/₃ or ¹/₄, too. Understanding fractions and how to add fractions will help you to be a more intelligent shopper.

Adding Fractions in Construction

Construction is a large industry. Even if you aren't working professionally as a contractor, at some point, you will most likely find yourself working on projects around the house that will require to read measurements and add them together. Because most projects aren't going to allow you to use exact units of length, you will most likely find yourself adding lengths with fractions like, "32 ¹/₂ inches + 24 ³/₈ inches".

Adding Fractions in Exercising

I may not run much anymore, but when I was running, many runs are broken down into fractions of miles. Trying to set up a pace to track your runs can be broken down into ¹/₄ mile, ¹/₈ mile, or ¹/₂ mile increments.

Summary

So, if you can't tell from these small examples, adding fractions is very crucial in your daily life. In addition to this, you can practice these skills with this fractions calculator. There are also other online calculators and blog posts to help with your skills.

Using Percentages Every Day

Percentages are used in everyday life in ways that we are so accustomed to, that we may not realize it. Imagine how your life might be different if you didn't use percentages. Think about how many times a day you see percentages in use when you go to a store to purchase something. If you need to get a loan for purchasing a car, or a house, you better understand percentages. And let's not forget tests and homework. Percentages are everywhere.

Shopping Percentages

If you are walking through the mall, watching advertisements on TV, or browsing through the coupon section of the local paper, you will undoubtedly come across examples of percentages. Stores use percentages to calculate the amount of profit margin, profit markup, and total sales price they should use on their products. When they advertise a sales, they will often issue a percentage off of the sales price. How often have you seen ads that promote "25% off" or "50% off"? Sometimes there will be a "buy one, get one free" sale. That's just another way of saying "50% off".

Loan Percentages

If you are in the market for a new car, or even a new house, you most likely will need help to finance the purchase. Many people don't have the financial resources to make a large purchase and will take out a loan for the purchase. Loans will be use percentages to calculate what is known as "interest". Interest is the way the lending institution makes money for loaning out money. If you have good credit, and have shown the institution that they have a strong chance of getting their loan back, then your interest rate will usually be lower.

Percentages in School

It would be hard to imagine how grades are calculated without percentages in school. When you take a test, or finish a homework assignment, often times you are graded on the percentage of problems you answered correctly. This is usually simplified to the "A,B,C,D,F" scale to simplify and compare the scores. As evil as percentages may have seemed in school, they are crucial for functioning in society.

The Sum Up and Help with Percentage Calculators

There are many more examples of percentages that are used in our daily lives. Try to become familiar with percentages and if you become adept at calculating and understanding percentages, you will most likely find yourself ahead of the game in your money calculations. For more help on understanding percentages, try finding and working on a percentage calculator or some of these other online calculators.

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