Math Lab Activity

– Grocery Shopping and Budgeting

Objective:

To introduce students to real-life applications of profit/markup and tax calculations in the context of grocery shopping and budgeting.

Materials Needed:

• Grocery store advertisements with prices for various items
• Calculators
• Pen and paper

Introduction:

• Profit is the amount of money a business earns after deducting its costs.
• Markup is the percentage added to the cost price to determine the selling price.
• Tax is a percentage of the total amount paid for a product or service that goes to the government.

Instructions:

Markup and Profit Calculation:
1. Print the list of grocery items (e.g., apples, bread, milk, pasta, etc.) and pick any 20 – 25 items.
2. Calculate the selling price of each item by adding a certain markup percentage (15%) to the cost price.
4. Once the selling prices are calculated, determine the total cost price and total selling price for all the items.
5. Calculate the profit earned by subtracting the total cost price from the total selling price.

Tax Calculation:
1. In addition to the selling price, customers also have to pay tax on their purchases. Provide the students with the tax rate (8 %).
2. Calculate the tax amount for each item based on the tax rate.
3. Determine the total tax amount for all the items.
4. Calculate the final total amount that a customer would have to pay, including both the selling price and the tax.

Budgeting Challenge:
1. Print a budget worksheet. 
2. Your budget limit is (Rs. 3500) plan a shopping list within that budget.
3. Choose items from the original list while considering their marked-up prices and tax amounts. They must stay within their budget.
4. After completing the budget worksheet, have each group present their shopping lists, including the calculated total amount spent.

 Apply these concepts in your daily life to become more financially literate consumers.

Ignite Your Mathematical Mind:

• Write a reflection from your experience on how different markup percentages and tax rates can impact the final price a customer pays.
• Do you think that budgeting and making informed purchasing is important? Does it influence purchasing decisions?