te n ts

C on
Whole Numbers
2 How Many Ants?

Fractions
10 Brian Learns About Fractions

Geometry
18 Old Mr Kim Has A Farm

25 Smart Mathematicians Worksheet (1)

Measurement
33 Two Blankets

The Smart Mathematicians is pleased to introduce Mrs Linda Gan, our Editiorial Consultant in English.
Editor’s Note

Mrs Linda Gan was born and educated in the U.K. She holds a Master’s degree in Child Development from
the University of London and was an Assistant Professor in the Early Childhood and Special Needs Academic
Group at the National Institute of Education for thirty years, training pre-school, primary and secondary school
teachers. During that time she was engaged as an English language consultant for developing and coordinating
language arts curricula for the Ministry of Education - the Monolingual LEAP curriculum in 1985, the PAP
Kindergarten syllabus in 1989, the MOE Kindergarten Framework in 2003 and most recently, in 2012, the new
Social Studies Primary 4 materials, which are being used in schools in 2013. She has published a number of
research articles on bilingual education, literacy and phonoligical awareness in young children and written a
wide range of stories and vocabulary enrichment books which promote children’s English language skills.

A new exciting comic Maths magazine series under the flagship of Young Scientists Pte Ltd, Singapore is now
available to all who can’t have enough of the Young Scientists magazines. Smart Mathematicians magazines
are designed to comply with the Singapore school Mathematics syllabus for Primary 1-6. Every copy of Smart
Mathematicians is complemented with sets of relevant Maths exercises for each particular level and a set of Olympiad
Maths quizzes. Smart Mathematicians opens up a world of fun and excitement in a novel and innovative way of
learning Mathematics without tears and drudgery.
 Data Analysis
41 Gaston Goes To Work!

49 Percentage Mr Elephant’s Dilemma

PANEL OF EDITORS:
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• Editorial Consultant in English • Kenneth Lee
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[Former Assistant Professor, National Institute of Education, Percetakan Tatt Sdn. Bhd.
Nanyang Technological University]

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 Percentage Mr Elephant’s
Dilemma

atch my
Now w k!
ic
power k

Oh my
goodness!

Maths Trivia
Percent means ‘parts per one hundred’, and is represented by the % symbol.
Part Percent Part
4 80%
=
Whole 5 100 % Percent Whole

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 Hey, watch
out! Gee, that was
awesome!

Do try to be
more careful
next time. Go
on now!
most
You al my
broke !
s
glasse

Uncle Elephant,
what’s so special about
these glasses of water
that you have to watch
over them?
We’re
sorry, Uncle
Elephant.

I’ve annoyed
Aunt Elephant.
She’s making me solve
a maths problem as
punishment. I won’t
get to have dinner if
I can’t find the
answer to the
problem.

Maths Trivia
When we say ‘percent’ we are actually saying ‘per 100’.
For example: One percent (1%) means 1 per 100.

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 Why don’t you tell How can you solve
me the problem the problem?
you have to solve? You’re too young.
Perhaps
I can
help you.

Yes, Uncle
Elephant. Monkey Hmm…all
Try me. is very smart! Just right.
let him try.

These three glasses

contain different
concentrations of syrup.

200 millilitres of 300 millilitres of 300 millilitres of

water with 16% water with 20% water with 36%
of syrup of syrup of syrup

Maths Trivia
Since a percent is part per one hundred, converting percent to a fraction
on
is easy. Just remove the percent symbol, place the number over one ne
hundred and reduce the fraction to the simplest form if possible.
20 1
E.g. 20% = =
100 5
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 Aunt Elephant has
poured the three glasses
of water + syrup into
this big glass.

150 millilitres
of water

Now, calculate the

percentage of syrup
in the mixture.

50 ml of
syrup
You won’t be
allowed into the
house unless That’s the sad
you get the correct story of my life.
answer. Hmm...
I can see your
predicament.

Maths Trivia
To convert a percent to a decimal number, remove the percent symbol
and place the number over one hundred. Since a fraction represents
0.5 0.72 0.638
division, divide the number by one hundred to get the decimal form.
( It is the same as moving the decimal point to the left two places.) 5 72 638
20 10 100 1000
E.g. 20% = = 0.2
100
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 So have you I know how to
solved the add but…
problem?

The percentage
of syrup in the
mixture is
Poor Uncle
26.3%. Elephant! Let’s
see if I can
help you.

That’s the
wrong
answer!

Uncle Elephant, the

answer I’ve
got is 25%.

Why was
my
calculation
wrong?
Maths Trivia
Percentages provide a simple and interesting way to present
information. For example, saying that 25% of children prefer to
read comics than storybooks (which means 1 out of 4 children),
is a lot easier to understand than saying 241 out of 964 children
in my school prefer to read comics rather than storybooks.
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 Uncle Elephant,
Sure.
tell me how did you
get your answer?

This is Uncle Elephant’s Glass 1 : 16% of 200 ml syrup solution

calculation. = 32 ml of syrup concentrate
Glass 2 : 20% of 300 ml syrup solution
= 60 ml of syrup concentrate
Glass 3 : 36% of 300 ml syrup solution
= 108 ml of syrup concentrate

Glass 1 Glass 2 Glass 3

An addition of 50 ml of syrup concentrate and 150 ml

of water.
Syrup concentrate: 32 ml + 60 ml + 108 ml + 50 ml = 250 ml
Water : 200 ml + 300 ml + 300 ml + 150 ml = 950 ml
250
Percentage of syrup concentrate = × 100% = 26.3%
950

I know where Where did

you’ve gone wrong, I go wrong?
Uncle Elephant.

Maths Trivia
Percentages are all around us - in shops, in newspapers, on
TV- everywhere. Many things in everyday life are measured and
compared in percentages such as how much an item is reduced
in a sale.

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 What is the percentage of
syrup concentrate?

Glass 1 : 16% of 200 ml Glass 2 : 20% of 300 ml Glass 3 : 36% of 300 ml

syrup solution syrup solution syrup solution
= 32 ml of = 60 ml of = 108 ml of
syrup syrup syrup
concentrate concentrate concentrate

An addition of 50 ml of syrup concentrate and

150 ml of water.

Syrup concentrate: 32 ml + 60 ml + 108 ml

+ 50 ml = 250 ml

Syrup solution: 200 ml + 300 ml + 300 ml

+ (150 ml + 50 ml) = 1 000 ml

Percentage of the syrup concentrate

250
= × 100% = 25%
1000

Percentage of the syrup concentrate is 25%.

Uncle Elephant,
when 50 ml of syrup
Well, I can go
concentrate is mixed in into the house
150ml of water, it will now. Thank
give a volume of 200 ml you so much.
of syrup solution.

Goodbye, Uncle
Elephant.

Yes,
I understand
now.

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 A percentage is simply a part of a whole, expressed as a part of 100. There are
two main ways of working with percentages: the first is finding a percentage
of a given amount, and the second is to find what percentage one number is of
another number.

Calculating percentages
The example below shows how to find the percentage of a quantity. In this case
25% of a group of 24 people.

percentage ^ 100 # Total number = Number of

of people people

25
# 24 = 6
100

The example below shows how to find what percentage one number is of another
number. In this case, 48 people out of a group of 112 people.

Number of ^ Total number # 100% = percentage

people of people

48
# 100% = 42.86%
112

Maths Education Extension

Enter and key in “Math Antics-
Finding A Percent Of A Number”
(reprint YouTube)

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