Bad maths costs cash

One in five people cannot work out their change

People throughout the UK are losing money because they are bad at mental arithmetic, and many can't solve maths problems even in a multiple-choice test. The BBC's Paul Lewis reports.

Barely half of the UK population can work out how much they should be paid in overtime or the interest on a simple loan. Even the change from £5 baffles more than one person in five.

These shocking results come from a recent nation-wide survey done for the BBC by ICM research.

It found that women are worse than men and pensioners are worse than young people.

People who are better off and better educated are, perhaps inevitably, better at doing sums in their head.

But the good news is there is no North-South divide. People in the South of England are just as bad as those in the North!

The survey asked 1,000 people around the UK to answer some simple questions. And all they had to do was pick the right answer from three they were offered.

The cash till will work it out and show the answer

The easiest question was this.

How much change would you get if you bought something costing £2.54 and paid with a five pound note?

More than one person in five either got that wrong or refused to answer, even though they were offered a choice of £2.44, £2.46 or £2.56.

Even on this question, men were better than women. About four men out of five got it right but only three women in four.

The worst results were the over 55s. Only about 7 out of ten got it right. And they used to cope with pounds, shillings and pence!

Checking your change in a shop is the most basic personal finance skill.

Nowadays of course, the cash till will normally work it out and show the answer. But you should still check your change, or at least be able to.

The next question was about pay. Do you check yours? Many of us think it is all done by computer so it must be right.

Not so. Computers are only as good as the information they get.

And not all of us work for people who use computers.

You don't have to be a genius like Pythagoras to do basic arithmetic

Here is the question that barely HALF of us could answer.

You are paid £8 an hour and work 2 hours overtime at time and a half (one and a half times what you earn an hour) how much extra will you earn?

If you earn £8 an hour, overtime is time and half so that is £12 an hour and two hours is £24.

But even when faced with the three answers £12, £16, and £24 only 57% of us got it right.

Frighteningly, about one person in six would have accepted £12.

And nearly one in ten would have taken £16.

A massive one in five women did not even attempt a guess between those three answers.

Interesting differences.

On each question more women than men said they did not know or refused to answer.

Women are not by nature worse at doing sums. Some women are brilliant at maths. But many women lack confidence.

So people with daughters particularly should make sure that numbers are fun, not frightening.

With the right teaching, and that means parents too, we can all do maths.

Count Me In

The BBC has just launched a campaign to help parents of primary school children improve their own maths and see how best to help their kids with their homework.

And you can look at a free CD ROM at libraries and centres around the UK.

Results summary

People aged 55 or older performed worst on every single question.

The 18-24s did better than pensioners.

The 25-44s did best on all questions.

Now if adding up is hard, and multiplying is a bit daunting, percentages can be very frightening.

But many people borrow on a credit card, or from the bank, or have a mortgage.

Just as many of us put our money in a savings account of some sort.

And the money we pay, or the interest we earn, is always calculated as a percentage.

If you are paying 7.5% interest per year on a loan of £200 how much interest will you pay in a year?

Interest calculations can be difficult so this one was designed to be among the simplest and the most basic.

But only two out of three men got it right (£15) and less than one in two women.

And even better news for the sales people is that one in 14 people would have been happy paying twice as much, £30 a year.

Those aged 55 or more did the worst, well under half got it right and nearly four in ten did not answer at all.

The older generation, aged 55 or more, who went to primary school well before 1960, were the worst age group on every single question.

BBC CD ROM

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The 18-24s did better than them.

The stars of the show were the 25-44s, the best age on all three questions

So not being able to do arithmetic is costing us plenty.

And being better at arithmetic could mean a cash bonus for us, in a shop, in a bank, or even in our pay packet.