--- title: Olympiad: best buys and change at the till ★★★ — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Olympiad: best buys and change at the till ★★★», a lesson of the money course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: This olympiad lesson mixes the shop lessons of the course - prices, change, offers and unit prices - into puzzles where one c --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Money](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/) / Olympiad: best buys and change at the… # Olympiad: best buys and change at the till ★★★ Lesson 41 of the money course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/0/) — This olympiad lesson mixes the shop lessons of the course - prices, change, offers and unit prices - into puzzles where one careful step after another cracks each one. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/1/) — The golden rule of a best buy is to compare the same amount: four juice cartons of 250 ml at 40p make a litre for £1.60, while the 1 litre bottle is £1.50 - the bottle wins, and the giant 2 litre bottle at £3.20 does not. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/2/) — Picture a jacket at £40 with a sign "half price, then a further quarter off": half leaves £20, and a quarter of £20 is £5, so you pay £15, not the £10 that "three quarters off" would give. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/3/) — Change is easiest by counting up from the price, like the shopkeeper: for £6.35 paid with £10, add 5p to £6.40, 10p to £6.50, 50p to £7 and £3 to £10 - that is £3.65 back. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/4/) — Watch the talk around the numbers: "the queue was a mile long" is not a number to use, "not ideal" may mean a deal is worse than it looks, and when someone corrects themselves the last number counts. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/5/) — The unit price is the price for the same amount, such as 100 g, 1 litre or one item; comparing unit prices shows the best buy. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/6/) — The biggest pack is often cheaper per unit, but not always, so always do the sum. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/7/) — UK coins are 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 and £2; notes are £5, £10, £20 and £50; there is no 30p or £3 coin. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/8/) — To give change in the fewest coins, take the biggest coin that fits again and again: £2.80 is £2, 50p, 20p and 10p, four coins. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/9/) — Counting up from the price to the money paid gives the change and is a good way to check it. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/11/) — "Buy one, get the second half price" on two £6 books means £6 plus £3, which is £9. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/12/) — A quarter of a price is the price divided by 4, a fifth is divided by 5, and a tenth is divided by 10. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/13/) — "£5 off for every £100" on a £300 TV saves 3 lots of £5, which is £15. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/14/) — A price like £1.99 is 1p less than £2, so three items at £1.99 cost £6 minus 3p, which is £5.97. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/15/) — If you get too much change, the honest thing is to hand it back; if you get too little, say so politely. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/41-olympiad-best-buys-and-change-at-the-till/16/) — Slang in this lesson: "skint" means having no money, "canny" (North East England) means good or clever, "lush" (Wales) means great, "servo" (Australia) is a petrol station, "bussin'" means really good, "no cap" means honestly, and "sound" (Liverpool, Manchester) means fine or right. - ← previous: [Gambling and honesty with change](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/40-gambling-and-honesty-with-change/) - next →: [Olympiad: saving plans and offers too good to be true ★★★](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/42-olympiad-saving-plans-and-offers-too-good-to-be-true/) - ↑ back to [Money](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/)