years and dates
Clue: Say this year aloud: 1999.
Answer: Nineteen ninety-nine.
Clue: What do we call a period of 10 years?
Answer: A decade.
Clue: In the fraction 3/8, what do we call the 3?
Answer: The numerator.
Clue: What punctuation mark separates the whole number from the decimal part in 3.14?
Answer: A decimal point.
Clue: What is the noun for the mathematical operation represented by +?
Answer: Addition.
Clue: Say this year aloud: 2009.
Answer: Two thousand and nine / two thousand nine.
Clue: What do we call a period of 100 years?
Answer: A century.
Clue: In the fraction 3/8, what do we call the 8?
Answer: The denominator.
Clue: Read this decimal aloud:
0.5
Answer: Zero point five or point five
Clue: What is the verb we use when we perform addition?
Answer: To add.
Clue: This date is written 10/12/2024. How would you say it in American English?
Answer: October twelfth, twenty twenty-four.
Clue: Complete this sentence with the correct preposition:
“The company hopes to employ 10,000 people ___ 2030.”
Answer: by
Clue: Read this fraction aloud:
1/20
Answer: One twentieth.
Clue: Read this decimal aloud:
3.1415
Answer: Three point one four one five or pi
Clue: Calculate:
34 × 4 ÷ 2
68
Clue: The date is written 10/12/2024. An American and a British speaker could interpret this differently. Explain the difference.
Answer: American English: October 12th, 2024. British English: 12th October 2024.
(The numerical order can therefore cause confusion.)
Clue: A news article says:
“The project will be completed by 2030.”
Does this mean the project will be completed exactly in 2030, or at some point before or during 2030?
Answer: At some point before or no later than 2030.
Clue: A recipe requires 3/4 of a kilogram of flour. You only want to make half of the recipe. How much flour do you need?
Answer: 3/8 of a kilogram.
Clue: Put these numbers in order from smallest to largest:
0.5 — 0.05 — 0.505 — 0.55
0.05 → 0.5 → 0.505 → 0.55
Clue: A scientist records a temperature of −3°C in the morning. By afternoon, the temperature has increased by 8°C.
What is the afternoon temperature?
Answer: 5°C.
Clue: You are giving a presentation about a historical event that happened in 1902. Say the year naturally in English. Then do the same for 2000.
Answer: Nineteen oh two and two thousand.
Clue: A scientist says:
“The temperature increased by 2°C.”
Another scientist says:
“The temperature increased to 2°C.”
Explain the difference between by and to.
Answer: By 2°C describes the amount of increase. To 2°C describes the final temperature.
Example:
If the temperature goes from 5°C to 7°C, it increased by 2°C and increased to 7°C.
Clue: A student says:
“The numerator is always smaller than the denominator, because fractions are always less than one.”
Is the student correct? Explain and give an example.
Answer: No. Fractions can be greater than 1. For example, 5/3 is greater than 1 because the numerator is larger than the denominator
Clue: A student says:
“0.8 is smaller than 0.75 because 8 is smaller than 75.”
Explain why the student is wrong.
Answer: 0.8 = 0.80, and 0.80 > 0.75. The number of digits after the decimal does not determine which decimal is larger.
Clue: Calculate the following and give your answer in English:
(20 + 10) ÷ 5 × 2
Answer: 12 — twelve.
Explanation:
20 + 10 = 30
30 ÷ 5 = 6
6 × 2 = 12