Rates of exchange (SQA National 5 Applications of Mathematics): Revision Note

Exam questions can involve working with two different rates of exchange. Use one at a time.

On a particular day, the exchange rate from US Dollars to Japanese Yen is:

1 US Dollar = 155.62 Japanese Yen

and the exchange rate from Australian Dollars to Japanese Yen is:

1 Australian Dollar = 102.09 Japanese Yen

An item costs 40 US Dollars.

Find the cost of the item in Australian Dollars.

Answer:

Exchange from US Dollars to Japanese Yen

• Multiply by the rate of exchange

40 × 155.62 = 6224.80 Japanese Yen

Exchange from Japanese Yen to Australian Dollars

• Divide by the rate of exchange

6224.80 ÷ 102.09 = 60.9736... Australian Dollars

Round to 2 decimal places

60.97 Australian Dollars

Chase travels from Edinburgh to New York and then to Quebec.

Chase converts £2000 into US dollars. He spends $500 and converts the rest into 2996 Canadian dollars.

Calculate the rate of exchange for US dollars into Canadian dollars.

Answer:

Exchange £2000 to US dollars

• Multiply by the rate of exchange

2000 × 1.32 = 2640 US dollars

Subtract the money he spends

2640 - 500 = 2140

Divide the Canadian dollars by the US dollars to find the exchange rate

Write as 2 decimal places