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These resources have been reviewed and selected by STEM Learning’s team of education specialists for factual accuracy and relevance to teaching STEM subjects in UK schools.

25% sale

This task is designed to assess how well students understand repeated percentage reduction.

The task begins with reducing the price of a jacket by 25%. The sale price of the jacket reduces by 25% on a further three occasions. A statement is made that ‘four reductions of 25% must mean the jacket is then free’, students must show why the statement is false.

Further work follows on percentage reductions and calculating the percentage saving on the original price.

This task is from the Mathematics Assessment Resource Service, a collaboration between UC Berkeley and the Shell Centre team at the University of Nottingham. A full rubric is given for the task, together with examples of student work and suggestions for helping students overcome misconceptions. Further information on the collection is given here.

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