Representation of Money
Money can be referred to as something that we use as a medium of exchange.
It can be represented in many forms such as:
- Representative or Receipt Money: As the name suggests this type of money does not have any intrinsic value but represents some value.
It can be both printed and in a digital form.
- Commodity money: It is the type of money whose value comes from the commodity or an object it is made of. It consists of an object which has value of its own as well as its value in buying goods/stuffs.
- Metallic Money: It represents the currency that is made up of gold, silver, copper or brass used as a medium of exchange in ancient times. It is still used nowadays, but its intrinsic value does not meet the value it represents.
- Fiat Money: It is the type of money that has no intrinsic value but is backed by the government or in a bank. It has value because people who use it agree on its value.
Expressing an amount of money in fractions and decimals
Let us consider the following example:
Express penny, nickel, dime, and quarter in terms of the dollar ($).
We know that $1 = 100 Cents
Then, 1 Cent can be expressed as $ \(\frac{1}{100}\) or $0.01
Similarly, conversions of smaller units are shown in the table.
$1 = 100 Cents or a penny
Or
$1 = 20 nickels
Or
$1 = 10 dimes
Or
$1 = 4 quarters
The above conversions can be used to express any amount of money in decimals or fractions and a few conversions have been shown as examples.
How to express money as a mixed number?
You usually write a “money amount” with a dollar sign and a decimal to represent money and the smaller units associated with it. Just like the decimal point separates units from one-tenths and one-hundredths, it also separates the whole dollar from dimes, cents, or quarters.
For example, let us take an amount of $1.32.
1.32 dollars or \(1\frac{32}{100}\) dollars or $1.32
$1.32 is read as “1 dollar and 32 cents”
Solved Examples
Example 1:
Express the amount shown in the figure in dollars.
Solution:
From the figure, we can see that there are 3 bills of $1 and 3 coins of $1 each.
$3 + $3 = $6 (add)
Therefore, there are $6 in total.
Example 2:
Find the total amount of money and write this amount in decimal and in a fraction form.
Solution:
There are a total of 4 dimes and 2 pennies.
In cents we can express it as,
4 dimes = 40 cents (1 dime = 10 cents)
2 pennies = 2 cents (1 penny = 1 cent)
40 cents + 2 cents = 42 cents (add)
Using the table we have,
$0.42 (1 cent = $0.01)
Or
\(\frac{$42}{100}\) (1 cent = $\(\frac{1}{100}\) )
Example 3:
You have $\(\frac{1}{4}\) as coins. What are the two possible groups of coins you can have?
Solution:
Since you have $\(\frac{1}{4}\), you have 25 cents. ($1 = 100 cents)
This can also be expressed as,
1 quarter ($\(\frac{1}{4}\) = 1 quarter)
Or
5 nickels (1 nickel = 5 cents)
Therefore, the two possible groups of coins are 1 quarter or 5 nickels.
Example 4:
Sarah wants to buy a pack of bouncy balls consisting of 6 balls priced at $.9. If she has $\(\frac{92}{100}\) . Can she buy this pack of bouncy balls?
Solution:
Since Sarah has $\(\frac{92}{100}\).
When we convert this fraction into a decimal format we arrive at $0.92, which is greater than $0.90, and this indicates that Sarah has an amount of money that is greater than the price of the pack of bouncy balls. This indicates that Sarah has enough money to purchase the pack of bouncy balls.
Example 5:
Which one does not belong with the other three?
Solution:
We know that from the standard conversion of a dollar to lower denominations that,
$1 = 100 cents
1 quarter = $\(\frac{1}{4}\)
⇒ 2 quarter = $\(\frac{1}{2}\)
Similarly,
1 dime = $\(\frac{1}{10}\)
⇒ 5 dime = $\(\frac{1}{2}\)
And,
2 pennies = $\(\frac{2}{100}\)
We now observe that all the amounts are equal to $\(\frac{1}{2}\) except 2 pennies.
Hence, the odd one among groups of four is 2 pennies.
$1 is equal to 100 cents or penny.
Money has the following functions:
- As a medium of exchange
- A store of value
- A unit of account
- A standard of deferred payment
$1 can be expressed as,
$1 = 100 Cents = 20 nickel = 10 dime = 4 quarters.