The Boutique - Making Change with the help of a
Spreadsheet
Math Shop - Scholastic, Inc.
In the Math Shop
version of Boutique the student plays the role of a store clerk who
sells clothes. The main task is to handle the exchange of money and
give correct change. In this example, the clerk is given $5.00 for an
item that costs $4.22. The right change is 78¢.
Assuming
you have no more than 9 of each coin (quarters, dimes, nickels and
pennies)
in your register,
•
what are the different ways you could make the
necessary change?
•
What’s the minimum number of coins that would make
this change?
•
What’ s the maximum number of coins that make this
change?
Remember:
You can’t use more than 9 of any
particular coin.
A spreadsheet is a handy tool
to help you with this problem.
• Open
a new Excel worksheet.
• Set
up a spreadsheet that
looks like this.
To
display multiple lines of text inside selected cells:
•
click Cells in the Format menu.
• click the Alignment tab.
• select the Wrap text check
box.
In order for the spreadsheet to do
the calculations for you, you will need formulas to find the value of
the coins, the total number of coins, and the amount of money that you
still need to give the customer. (This last column is not absolutely
necessary but is very helpful.)
The formula:
"behind" cell F2 is: = B2 *
.25
+ C2 * .10 + D2 * .05 + E2 * .01
“behind” cell G2 is: = B2 +
C2
+ D2 + E2
“behind” cell H2 is: = .78 -
F2
Format your Columns F and H
so they are in currency format.
Use Fill Down to replicate
the formulas relative to the rows they are in. Highlight (click inside)
the cell or cells you wish to replicate. Drag the lower right hand
corner of the cell as far down as you wish (about 30 rows) and release.
Note this distinction: The G columns tells you the
number of coins, while
the F column gives you the VALUE of that number of coins.
Boutique
Template