Real-Life Math -- Solution
Step 1. First we add up all the minutes:
10
+ 7 + 7 + 9 + 5 + 7 = 45 minutes
Step 2. Next we add
up all the seconds:
32 + 54 + 28 + 18 + 54 + 28 = 214
seconds
Step 3. To find this in minutes we simply divide
it by 60, since there are 60 seconds in a minute:
214
/ 60 = 3.57
Now we know that we have 3 full minutes,
but what does the 0.57 represent? Don't be fooled -- that does not mean
57 seconds! It means 57 percent of 1 minute. Therefore, we must make 1 more
calculation.
Step 4. Find 57 percent of 1 minute:
60
seconds x 0.57 = 34 seconds
Step 5. Remember, there also
needs to be 3 seconds to pause between each song, so how many seconds is that?
There are 6 songs, so we only need 5 pauses.
3
seconds x 5 blank spaces = 15 seconds
Step 6. To find
the total number of minutes required, you simply need to add up all the minutes
and seconds of the songs, plus the seconds for the pauses
45
minutes + 3 minutes + 34 seconds + 15 seconds = 48 minutes and 49 seconds
The
total time adds up to 48 minutes and 49 seconds.
While dancers don't
typically use math on the job, many dance-related careers call for quite complex
math skills. "To do some of the support jobs for dance, you would probably
want to have geometry and trigonometry," says Lisa Claybaugh. She is an administrative
assistant with a ballet company.
"For instance, theatrical riggers
use quite a bit of geometry and trigonometry. And choreographers and costumers
will use quite a bit of geometry as well," she says.