SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE

AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI, GHANA

ISD 151
OVERVIEW OF BASIC MATHEMATICS WITH BUSINESS APPLICATIONS
• Lecture 1

Lecturer: Abdul Samed Muntaka

asmuntaka.ksb@knust.edu.gh // 0205515494

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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Introduction
• Business decisions require precision and accuracy.
• Mathematics provides a basis for introducing precision and
accuracy in business.
• This course is designed to provide YOU with basic knowledge on
some topics YOU must master to succeed in business today.
• This topic is to help you revise some of the topics you have treated
already in the SHS but this time through a business lens.
• At the end of this topic, you should have refreshed your minds on
such topics as: Fractions, Decimals, Percentages, Ratios, Rates,
Time, Simple Equations, etc.
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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Pretext in Business Mathematics
1. Convert to an improper fraction: 25¾
2. Convert to a mixed number: 23/5
3. Find the least common denominator of the fractions: 5/12, 7/18,
and 11/20
4. Mixed numbers – add: 34½ + 23¾ + 34½ + 23¾
5. Common factions – subtract: 17/18 – 20/27
6. Mixed number – multiply: 5 5/8 × 4 1/6
7. Common factions – divide: 25/38 ÷ 15/18
8. Convert the decimal 0.028 to a fraction
3 9. Solve y + 12.3 = 20.5 for y
 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Pre-test in Business Mathematics Cont’d
10. Solve 5r – 2 = 2(r + 5) for r.
11. Solve for T in the formula M = P(1 + RT)
12. Find x in the proportion: 4/9 = 36/x
13. Express as a percent: 0.7
14. Express as a decimal: 142%
15. Solve for part: 1.2% of 180 is ……………….
16. Solve for base: 135 is 15% of …………………
17. The 5% sales tax collected by Musah was GHc780. What was
the amount of the total sales?
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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA

Applications Involving Fractions and Decimals

• Fractions are used in business to represent quantities which cannot be
represented as whole numbers.
• Remember that a fraction is written in the form a/b. In this case, a is the
numerator and b is the denominator.
• NB: The denominator cannot be zero: Why?
• Decimals on the other hand are used in business to represent quantities
that cannot be represented as whole numbers in the form of whole
numbers.
• Decimals therefore consist of two strings of digits separated by a decimal
point.
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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Solve the following:
1. Cabin maker Yaw Musah needs to make a cabinet door. The cabinet
drawings shows an opening 24 1/16 inches wide. Yaw wants a space of 1/8
inch on each side of the cabinet door. How wide should he make the door?
Ans: 24 5/16
2. The central Hotel just hired a new chef. This chef makes a hot sauce that
uses 1¾ tablespoons of chili powder, but he needs to increase the recipe by
3½ times. How many table spoons of chili powder should he use? Ans:6 1/8
3. Contractor Mumin has a top board that is 13/16 inch thick. Mumin wants to
use wood screws to attach it to a bottom board. If a wood screw is 1½
inches long, how much of the screw will be left over to go into the bottom
board? Ans: 11/16 or 0.6875
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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
4. Accra Fabric Centre sold four pieces of wool fabric to a tailor. The
pieces measure 3 ¼ yrds, 2 1/3 yrds, 1 ¾ yrds and 4 ½ yrds. How
many yards of wool did the tailor purchase?
5. Issah reads meters for ECG. He walked 3.6 miles on Monday; 3.7
miles on Tuesday; 2.9 miles on Wednesday; 3.25 miles on Thursday
and 3.4 miles on Friday. If Issah is paid GHc0.75p per mile, what was
his total wages for the walk.
6. Four messenger service drivers need gasoline for their cars.
Individually, they buy 12.4, 8.9, 13.8, and 13.9 gallons. How much
did they purchase all together? If a gallon of gasoline is GHc7.20,
how much did they spend in all?
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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
7. Parker Paring Co. delivered 6.2 tons of asphalt. It used 4.7 tons for
a driveway and 1.2 tons for a walkway. How much asphalt was left.
8. George Bonsu Hardware sells a large-diameter plastic pipe for
GHC0.07 per foot and Cooper pipe for GHc1.02 per foot. How much
will Selina save by using plastic pipe if she needs 300ft of pipe?
9. A pizza chef has 24pounds of flour on hand. He needs 3.75 pounds
of flour for one large recipe of Pizza dough. How many recipes can
he make with the flour on hand (round to the nearest tenth.

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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Application of Word Problems and Equations
• Word problems helps business people use a systematic approach to reduce
plenty “talk” into simple computations involving addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division.
• They are presented in the form of conversation and students are supposed to
be able to use formulae and numerical equations to solve them.
• An equation on the other hand is a statement that says two expressions are
equal. E.g. x + 5 = 9. Meaning that x + 5 (one situation or scenario) is equal to
9 (another situation or scenario)
• Equations help business people look at different scenarios and try to equate
them to make meaning out of different situations has have some thins in
common.
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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Consider the following example:
• Issah owns half of a small bakery. Last week, he baked 6 cakes on Monday, 9 on Tuesday,
11 on Wednesday, 8 on Thursday and 6 on Friday. He sold all the cakes for GH¢9 each. It
cost Issah GH¢5 to make each cake; the rest was profit on each cake. Issah split his profit
evenly with his wife. How much did his wife receive from last week’s cakes.
Solution:
Step 1: What is requested – How much money did Issah’s wife receive?
Step 2: What process will be used:
Add the cakes baked: 6+9+11+8+6 = 40
Subtract the cost from the sales price: GH¢9 – GH¢5 = GH¢4
Multiply the GH¢4 profit per cake by the number of cakes sold: GH¢4 * 40 = GH
¢160
Divide the total profit by 2: GH¢160 /2 = GH¢80.00
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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Application of Word Problems and Equations Cont’d
• Summary of Steps for solving word problems
1. Determine what is being requested
2. Determine the process you will use to solve the problem
3. State the answer

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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Now look at the following:
• A company orders carpeting for three offices measuring 15 sq. yrds, 15 sq. yrs and 10 sq.
yrds respectively. A carpet dealer sells the carpet for GHc10 a sq. yrd and gives a Ghc50
discount when the purchase is for three or more offices. How much would the company
pay to have the three offices carpeted?
Step 1: What is requested: How much money would the company pay?
Step 2: What process will be used
Determine total sq. yards for the three offices: 15 + 15 + 10 = 40 yards
Multiply the price per yard by the total yards = 40 × GHc10 = Ghc400
Subtract the Ghc50 discount: Ghc400 – Ghc50 = 350
Ans: GHc350

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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Now solve these using the same approach:
1. Maria wants to upholster three chairs. Two chairs will require 4 yards of material each;
the third will require 3 yards. One material costs Ghc32 per yard; the other is Ghc24 per
yard. What is the difference between the costs of the two materials for upholstering
the chairs.

2. A university student worked at a local store for Ghc10.00 an hour, as his class schedule
permitted. The student worked 3 hours each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and
Thursday. He also worked 2 hours each Friday and 8 hours each Saturday. How many
weeks did the student have to work to earn Ghc792 for a new bicycle?

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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Equations
• As mentioned earlier, an equation is a statement that says two expressions are equal.
• Equations help business people to determine how many items to introduce into a
different scenario or situation to make it what is desired.
Example:
Misah Co. has two warehouses are different locations. In one location, there are 450
cartons of milk and in the other, 1200 cartons. If Misah Co. wants to keep the same
stock at the two locations, how many cartons should be moved between the locations
to achieve the set objective.
Solution:
To even the two locations, (450 + 1200)/2 = 825
The location with 450 needs: 825 – 450 = 375 more cartoons.
This means 375 cartons of milk have to be moved from the location with 1200 to the
14 location with 450 to achieve the set objective.
 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Now solve the following equations
1. 5r – 2 = 2(r + 5)
2. 5z + 2/3 = 2
3. 4(y + 8) = 3(y + 14)
4. ¾q – 1/9 = 1/3 + ¼q
5. 3(2p – 1) = 4(2.2 – p)
6. 9.1765y + 0.3284y = 6.65343
7. 0.3255(1 + 7.5s) = 6.67275
8. 1.2(2 + 3r) = 0.8(2r + 5)
9. A company had sales of Ghc25,000 and Ghc20,000 for January and February of last
year respectively. If January sales this year is Ghc30,000, what is the amount needed
for February in order to equal last year’s sales for the two months
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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Rates, Time and Distance
• There is usually the need in business to compute how much is done in a given
amount of time at a specific speed.
• Generally, rate, time, and distance problems are solved with the formula:

Distance = Rate × Time

E.g. 1. Berki traveled at 35 miles per hour for 5 hours. How far did Berki travel?
D=r*t
= 35 * 5
= 175 miles
Berki traveled 175 miles
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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
E. g. 2.
Mary needs to type an assignment that will be 30 pages long. Each page contains 200
words. If mary can type 40 words per minute, how many minutes will it take her to
complete the assignment.

Solution:
Distance (Total words needed) = Rate (words per minute) × Time (minutes required)
Distance (Total words needed) = 30 pages * 200 words per page = 6000 words
6000 words = 40 words per minute × time (minutes needed)
6000/40 = 150 minutes
Mary needs 150 minutes (or 2 hours 30 minutes) to complete the
assignment.
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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Ratios, Proportions and Percentages
Ratios
•Ratios are needed in business because often times, we need to compare quantities.
•A ratio is a comparison in terms of a quotient of two number a and b usually written as
a/b, a:b or a to b
•No matter how it is written, it is read as a to b
E.g. During a 7-month league season, a football team won 25 games and lost 15 games.
What is the ratio of the team’s wins to games played.
Solution: The ratio required is games won/games played
25/40 = 5/8
The ratio is 5 to 8 meaning that the team won 5 out of every 8 games.
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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Try
1. In a major city hospital, 88 patients were in the intensive care unit. If 22 nurses
were on duty in the unit, what was the ratio of nurses to patients.

2. A bathtub contains 20 gallons of water. If the tub empties in 4 minutes, what is

the rate of flow of the water per minute?

3. In a sociology class, there are 100 females and 25 males. What is the ratio of
males to the total number of students in the class?

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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Proportions
A proportion is a statement that two ratios a/b and c/d are equal, written as
a/b = c/d
To see if a proportion is true is to determine whether the cross products of the
ratios are equal.
E.g. To determine whether the proportions ½ = 4/8 are equal, we find the cross
products of the ratios (1. e. 1 * 8 = 2 * 4). Since the two sides are equal, it means
the proportions are equal.
However, taken a proportion like 3/5 = 9/10, the cross products = (3* 10) = (5 * 9)
Since the two results 30 on the left is not equal to the 45 on the right, the
proportions are not equal.

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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Try these:
1. Suppose that you make Ghc840 for working 4 weeks in a book shop. At this rate
of pay, how much money will you make in 10 weeks?

2. Forty (40) pounds of sodium hydroxide are needed to neutralize 49 pounds of

sulfuric acid. At this rate, how many pounds of sodium hydroxide are needed to
neutralize 98 pounds of sulfuric acid.
3. The scale of a map is ½in to 50 miles. How many miles correspond to 2.5in
4. At 3pm on a sunny day, Musah, who is 1.6 meters tall had a shadow that
measured 2.4 meters. A nearby tree also had a shadow that measured 10.8
meters, what is the height of the tree?

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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Percentages
• In business, percentages are used to measure change from one period to another.
• Percentages are hundredths (i.e. part of a hundred).
NB: Discuss conversion of decimals to percentage, percent to decimals, factions to
percentages and percent to fractions.
Example:
Joslin reality sold 40% more homes this year than it did last year when it sold 135 homes.
How many homes did they sell this year?
This can be solved in a number of ways
1. If what they sold last year is 100%, then it means this year they sold 140%.
(140% of 135 = 189 homes)
2. We also find 40% of 135 and add the result to 135. i.e. (0.4 * 135) + 135 = 189
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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA
Solve the following
1. Peggy Johnson owns a nursery. This year she sold 195 more rose bushes than
she did last year. This represents a 12% increase over the previous year. How
many rose bushes did peggy’s nursery sell last year?
2. Ken Chad is a bank teller. When he started this morning, his cash drawer had
coins worth Ghc86. The coins represented only 2.5% of all the money that Ken
has in his cash drawer. What was the total value of all this money?
3. Profits were Ghc11,000 last month and Ghc10,000 the previous month. What
was the rate of increase?
4. A food importer, Fontaine’s Food Expo, imports 60% of its vinegars from France,
30% from Italy and 10% from Spain. The total value of all the vinegars that it
imports is Ghc92,000. What is the value of the vinegars that are not imported
from France?
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 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI,
GHANA

Thank You
For enquiries and queries, please contact
Abdul Samed Muntaka
abusamgh@yahoo.com, 020 5515494

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