Introduction Travel : 0

This topic is concerned with the use of mathematics to solve travel problems.
The main theme of the topic is the use and interpretation of a variety of tables –
tables for costs, tables for times, tables for data; but all are either directly or
indirectly related to travel.
You might well require further more relevant information to replace that on some of the
sheets. Prices and times vary, and many of the situations are improved by using local
data (e.g. for timetables and distances).
The unit is most closely related to the Handling Data Attainment Target, but it brings
in elements of other Programmes of Study from the Number Attainment Target. In
particular, the complete unit will provide opportunities to cover and assess the Yearly
Teaching Programmes in the National Numeracy Framework as given in the chart
below

Topic Sheet National Numeracy

number Framework reference

Introduction 0

Travelling to school 1 4/E1 and A3

Shortest journeys 2 4/B4 and C1
A day out 3 5/D1 and C3
Value for money 4 6/C3, E1 and A3
Maps, compass points 5 4/D2 and 6/A3
American dollars 6 5/C3 and D2
Rates of exchange 7 5/C3 and 6/B6 and A3
Renting a holiday home 8 4/E1 and 5/C3
Going abroad 9 5/D1 and C3
Train speeds 10 6/C3, E1 and B7

Solutions

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 Travelling to school Travel : 1

When you travel to school in the morning do you get there by walking, by bus, by
train, by car or do you cycle?
What method of transport do most children use to get to your school?
How do you know?
To be sure, you need to do a survey.

Example of part of a completed tally chart

Activity
Walk
Construct a tally chart to show
your results. To make the chart ,
Bus
represent each answer to your
question with a line in the correct
Car
section. In each case, the fifth
line is placed so that it crosses You could use a tally chart like this one
Y
the previous four. It is now easy
Cycle
to count up the total number for Walk
each option.
Bus
Ask as many children as you Car
can how they travelled to school
today and use the chart to
Cycle
record your results.

Problems
After you have done your survey, use the data to answer the questions below.

1. What is the most common form of transport?

2. What is the least used form of transport?

3. How many children came to school by bus?

4. What fraction of the total number

you asked came by cycle?

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 Shortest journeys Travel : 2

Skipton

35 York
Preston 28
24 37
Leeds Hull
30 31
40 35 47 29
Doncaster 52
Liverpool 35 33 Grimsby
Manchester
18 36
38 37
46
Sheffield Lincoln

The map above shows main road connections between several towns. The
distances in miles between the towns are shown by the numbers marked on the
roads. The map is not drawn to scale.

Problems
1. What is the distance between

(i) Manchester and Leeds

(ii) Sheffield and Doncaster?

2. How far is it to go from Lincoln to Hull via Grimsby?

3. Is it shorter to go from Lincoln to Hull via Doncaster?

How much shorter or longer is it?

4. If you wanted to travel from York to Lincoln by the

shortest route, what route would you take and how long is it?

5. What is the shortest route from Preston to Grimsby?

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 A day out Travel : 3

The timetable of a minibus which runs between a town called Rockston and
surrounding villages is shown below.

Rockston 8.15 a.m. 11.00 a.m. 2.15 p.m. 5.00 p.m.

Littlecreek 8.32 11.17 2.32 5.17
Bedlington 8.50 11.35 2.50 5.35
Penhurst 9.08 11.53 – 6.53
Camford 9.22 12.07 3.10 6.07

Camford 9.30 a.m. 12.30 p.m. 3.30 p.m. 6.30 p.m.

Penhurst 9.44 12.44 – 6.44
Bedlington 10.02 1.02 3.50 7.02
LIttlecreek 10.20 1.20 4.08 7.20
Rockston 10.47 1.27 4.25 7.47

Use the timetable to answer the following questions.

Problems
1. What time bus should you catch from Rockston so as to be
in Camford before mid-day?

2. How many minutes does this journey take?

3. What time is the latest bus you should catch from

Camford in order to be back in Rockston by 5 p.m?

4. How many minutes does this return journey take?

5. How long was your stay in Camford in Problems 1 to 4?

6. Assume the minibus runs continually between Rockston and

Camford. Do not include the time when the bus is waiting at
Camford or Rockston for the next journey. For how many
hours does the minibus run each day?

7. The minibus has a major service after 200 hours of driving.

After how many days will a service be needed?

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 Value for money Travel : 4

A coach firm is offering special day return rates for trips to some towns and cities .

To London £16.00 Children under

Oxford £15.00 12
Bristol £10.70 Half-fare
Penzance £14.50

The distances to the towns and cities are

London 200 miles, Oxford 150 miles,
Bristol 85 miles, Penzance 110 miles.

Problems
Give answers to 2 decimal places, where appropriate.

1. How much will it cost to go to London for the day for the Smith
family which consists of two adults and three children whose
ages are 9, 11 and 14 years?

2. What will it cost if the Smith family goes to Penzance?

3. The total distance to Bristol and back is 170 miles.

Use a calculator to work out the average cost per mile in
pence for the trip to Bristol for one adult.

4. Calculate the average cost per mile in pence for each of the
other return trips.

5. Which trip do you think offers the best value for money? Why?

6. There is a 20% reduction in the price of the trip to Bristol.

Does this make the Bristol trip the best value now?

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 Maps, compass points Travel : 5

North
Bragfoot Harcombe

W E

Sheepwash Cove

West Leigh
Bratton

The map shows the positions of some villages. Compass points are shown at the
top of the map.

Problems
1. Which village is due north of Sheepwash?

2. Which village is due west of Cove?

3. What is the compass direction of Sheepwash from West

Leigh?

The map is drawn to a scale of 2 miles to 1 cm.

4. How many miles is

(i) Bratton from Cove
(ii) Harcombe from Bragfoot?

5. Make a tracing of the map and mark the positions of

(i) Darley, which is 3 miles due south of Harcombe
(ii) Lee, which is 4 miles south east of Bragfoot.

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 American dollars Travel : 6

20

18

16

14

12

US dollars $ 10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
A
1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
UK pounds £

On the graph above £1 is shown to be worth 1 dollar 50 cents (1.50 dollars).

This is shown at the point marked A.

Problems
1. Mark with an X the point which represents the value in dollars
of £10.

2. How can you complete the graph to show the value in dollars
of any number of £'s up to £10?

3. Complete the graph.

4. Use your graph to calculate

(i) the value of £2.50 in dollars

(ii) the value of $9 in £'s
(iii) the value of $15 in £'s.

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 Rates of exchange Travel : 7

If you go on holiday abroad you will probably take some foreign currency with you.
The amount of foreign currency you will get from your bank or travel agent for every
pound you change varies according to the exchange rates on that particular day.
(You would have to pay commission charges for changing your money, but we will
ignore these charges in our calculations.)
The exchange rates offered by a bank for you to buy some foreign currencies on a
particular day in January 2002 are given below.

Country Currency Rate per £(sterling)

Australia Australian dollar 2.75
Canada Canadian dollar 2.25
* EMU countries euro 1.50
Israel shekel 6.00
Malta Maltese lira 0.60
New Zealand New Zealand dollar 3.50
Norway krone 12.50
Singapore Singapore dollar 2.50
United States US dollar 1.50

Use this information to answer the following questions. The word 'sterling' means
'British money'.
Problems
1. How many Israeli shekels would you receive for £1?
2. What currency would you need for a holiday in Germany?
3. If you exchanged £2 for a certain currency you would receive
1.20 units. Which currency is this?
4. What is 1 Singapore dollar worth in pence?
5. How many Norwegian krone are worth 50p?
6. If you changed 700 New Zealand dollars into pounds sterling,
how many pounds would you receive?
Now change this amount into Australian dollars; how many
Australian dollars would you have?

* The euro is the currency of Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

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 Renting a holiday home Travel : 8

An estate agent advertises fully furnished houses to let as holiday homes. The
charges per week vary according to the time of year. The advertisement is shown
below.

HOLIDAY HOMES TO LET

FULLY EQUIPPED AND FULLY FURNISHED SEASIDE HOUSES

Time of year - rent per week in £'s

Name of house Number of beds May and June July and Aug Sept and Oct

Tudor House 4 275 400 200

Severn Cottage 5 290 500 250
Poole Lodge 6 350 775 370
Hill View 8 500 700 400

In May and June it costs £275 per week to rent Tudor House.

Problems
1. What is the charge for renting Poole Lodge for two weeks in
September?

2. In addition to these rents the estate agent adds an extra £3.20

per day for electricity and cleaning.
If you and your family went on holiday for one week in July,
choose which house you would rent and calculate the cost,
including electricity and cleaning.

3. Mr and Mrs Brown estimate that it costs about £28 a day to

buy food for themselves and their two children. They are
going to rent Severn Cottage from 10th August to the
24th August.
Approximately how much will it cost the Browns to rent the
house and pay for electricity, cleaning and food?

4. What other costs should the Browns include in estimating the

cost of the holiday?

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 Going abroad Travel : 9

You are planning a short holiday in Paris for your grandparents, your teenage
brother and yourself. You plan to leave London on a Saturday morning and return
on the following Thursday evening. The times of the train services are shown in the
table.
1 2 2 3 1 2
London Waterloo 0515 0619 0653 0753 0753 0853 0923 0953
Paris Gare du Nord 0923 1023 1059 1123 1157 1253 1323 1353

1 3 4
Paris Gare du Nord 1443 1519 1607 1710 1743 1819 1919 2007
London Waterloo 1643 1709 1813 1909 1943 2009 2113 2213

1 Not running on Saturdays 2 Running Saturdays only

3 Runs Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays only 4 Fridays and Saturdays only

Problems
1. Which train should you catch from London on Saturday morning to
arrive in Paris before 10.30 a.m?

2. What is the earliest time you can arrive in Paris if you cannot leave
London before 9.00 a.m on Saturday?

3. If you need to be back in London by 9.30 p.m, which is the latest train you
can catch on Thursday evening?

4. Using the table below, work out the cheapest total cost of return tickets
for your group.

5. How much more would it cost if you booked tickets 7 days in advance?

Fares from London Waterloo

Return ticket Return ticket Return Return

booked booked ticket ticket
7 days 14 days
To in advance in advance
Adult Under 26 yrs Under 11 yrs
Adult
Paris £95 £70 £75 £60

Activity
Plan a short holiday in Paris for yourself and your family. Decide what time
train to catch and where to stay. What is the total of the travel costs?
You could also find out about hotel costs from a travel agent or from the
internet, and work out the total cost of the holiday.
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 Train speeds Travel : 10

Time Distance

London to Reading 31 minutes 35 miles

Reading to Taunton 104 minutes 106 miles

Taunton to Exeter 34 minutes 35 miles

Exeter to Plymouth 63 minutes 46 miles

Plymouth to Truro 74 minutes 52 miles

Truro to Penzance 37 minutes 25 miles

The times shown above were taken by an InterCity 125 Express train to run from
London to Penzance.

Problems
1. What is the distance travelled between London and Exeter?

2. What is the distance travelled between Truro and Taunton?

3. How long in hours and minutes did the whole journey take
from London to Penzance?

The average speed in miles per minute is given by the formula

average speed = (distance in miles) ÷ (time in minutes)

4. Using a calculator work out the train's average speed in miles

per minute between

(i) Reading and Taunton

(ii) Exeter and Plymouth
(iii) Truro and Penzance.

5. On which part of the journey did the train travel

(i) fastest (ii) slowest?

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 Solutions Travel

Travel : 2 Problems 1. (i) 40 (ii) 18 2. 66

3. No ; 17 miles longer
4. York–Leeds–Doncaster–Lincoln ; 95 miles
5. Preston–Manchester–Sheffield–Doncaster–Grimsby

Travel : 3 Problems 1. 8.15 am 2. 67 3. 3.30 pm 4. 55

5. 6 hrs 8 mins 6. 8 hrs 42 mins 7. 22 days

Travel : 4 Problems 1. £64.00 2. £58.00 3. 6.29p (to 2 d.p.)

4. London 4.00p ; Oxford 5.00 ;
Penzance; 6.59p (to 2 d.p.)
5. London – cheapest cost per mile
6. No – Bristol will cost 5.04p per mile (to 2 d.p.)

Travel : 5 Problems 1. Bragfoot 2. Sheepwash 3. NE

4. (i) 10 miles (ii) 10 miles

Travel : 6 Problems 4. (i) 3.75 dollars (ii) £6 (iii) £10

Travel : 7 Problems 1. 6 Israeli shekels 2. euro

3. Maltese lira 4. 40 pence
5. 6.25 Norwegian krone 6. £200; 550 Australian dollars

Travel : 8 Problems 1. £740 2. Depends on number of people in family

3. £1436.80 4. e.g. outings, travel costs, entertainment

Travel : 9 Problems 1. 0619 2. 1353 3. 1919

4. ( 3 × £70) + £60 = £270
5. £55 more; ( 2 × £95) + £75 + £60 = £325

Travel : 10 Problems 1. 176 miles 2. 133 miles 3. 5 hrs 43 mins

4. (i) 1.02 (ii) 0.73 (iii) 0.68
5. (i) London and Reading (ii) Truro and Penzance

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