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Can You Pass This Five-Minute Math Drill Without a Single Mistake?

By: Torrance Grey

1 min

Can You Pass This Five-Minute Math Drill Without a Single Mistake?

Image: shutterstock

About This Quiz

Math. A lot of people live in dread of it. For example, some folks carry wallet cards to a restaurant, with a cheat sheet telling them how much a 15 percent or 20 percent tip is on various amounts. On the other hand, some people are overconfident in their math skills, until they're actually put to the test. We all saw this pretty clearly on the hit quiz show "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" Faced with questions like 'What is 4/5 as a percent?' or 'What is the top number in a fraction called?' many people realized that they weren't, in fact, smarter than a kid in 5th grade. (4/5 is 80 percent, and the top number in a fraction is called a numeral).

Of course, a lot of this is down to practice. Some of us just haven't had much use for long division or fractions since grade school. If you're curious about how your math skills have held up, we've created a quiz for you. You won't be asked complicated story questions, like on the SATs. Nor will you have to deal with algebra or geometry. Just questions involving the Basic Four (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) or about fractions and decimals, or denominations of money. (That's U.S. currency, for our foreign readers).

How fast can you blitz through this quiz? Grab a stopwatch, but not a calculator ... that'd make your results beside the point. (Pen and paper are OK, though).

How many times can 8 go into 81 without going over?

seven

eight

nine

ten

The number 9 can go in nine times with nothing left over (9 x9 = 81). The number 8 goes in ten times, making 80, with 1 left over.

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2 x 2 = 4 is also 2 ______ = four.

divided by

plus

squared

both #2 and #3

This is an unusual equation. Not only does 2 plus 2 equal 4, but 2 x 2 equals 4, The second equation can also be expressed as "two squared equals four," or "two to the power of two equals four." Whew!

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How many cents in a quarter?

1/4

4

15

25

A quarter is called a quarter because it's one-fourth, or 25 percent, of a dollar. Since a dollar is a nice round 100 cents, that makes a quarter 25 cents.

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What is 30 times 4?

60

64

120

You only need to remember that 3 times 4 equals 12. This is that equation, taken up to the "tens" level.

140

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How many minutes in two hours?

80

120

You probably found this one pretty simple. There's 60 minutes in an hour, so two hours is 60 times two, or 120.

160

180

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Which number goes into 130 without any remainder?

ten

eleven

thirteen

both #1 and #2

13 times 10 is 130. That makes both numbers valid choices.

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If you're travelling 80 miles per hour in your car, how far will you go in an hour?

60 miles

80 miles

Too easy? Believe it or not, a few years a man actually videotaped his wife struggling to answer this question and failing. And then he posted the video ON THE INTERNET. Not good husbanding, sir!

160 miles

it depends on your car's gas mileage

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What is 25 x 1000?

1025

1250

2,500

25,000

This one's as simple as it looks. 25 thousands is the same as 25,000.

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The lower half of a fraction is called a _____.

denominator

The two halves of a fraction are the numerator and the denominator. In 3/4, the numerator is 3 and the denominator is 4.

supporter

numerator

product

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70 + 71 =

140

141

This one's fairly easy is you move up from the "ones" level. That is, 7 + 7 is 14, so 70 + 70 is 140. Add one, and you have 141.

771

1441

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What is 4/5 plus 1/5?

3/5

41/5

14/5

one

You can also express this as 5/5. But any fraction with the same number on top and bottom equals one.

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How many cents in $250?

250

1250

2500

25,000

There are 100 cents in a dollar. To convert $250 to cents, you multiply times 100, getting 25,000.

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9/8 can also be written as ______.

8/9

1 and 1/8

9/8 could also be written as 8/8 plus 1/8. That's the same as 1 and 1/8.

1 and 8/10

2/1

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How many thousands are in a million?

one hundred

five hundred

one thousand

This is why you hear people refer to "nine hundred million," but never to "a thousand million." 999,999 is the last six-digit number before a million.

ten thousand

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What is 19 + 19?

36

38

Unless you know this one off the top of your head, there's little else to do but whip out a pencil and scratch paper. 9 + 9 equals 18, and 10 plus 10 equals 20, carry the one you get 30, plus the eight is 38.

190

199

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What is 999 minus 1000?

0

- 1

This one was probably fairly simple for you. One thousand minus one thousand would be zero, so 999 minus 1000 is one less, or - 1.

- 9

- 999

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How many minutes in three and a half hours?

180

190

210

An easy way to do this one is to break up three hours into six half hours, then add the other half hour. This gives you 30 times seven, or 210.

240

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What is 777 + 888?

1500

1515

1655

1665

Seven plus eight is 15, which is where you get the five at the end. The sixes and one are the result of carrying numbers over, a practice commonly taught in about second grade.

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What is 38 - 9?

31

29

You could go the "18- 9 is ..." route, but there's a simpler way. It's obvious that 38 minus 8 is 30, so subtracting one more digit gets you 29.

28

27

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What is 180 divided by 6?

3

3 and 3/10

20

30

This is another equation that's easy if you take it down to the tens level. 18 divided by 6 is 3, so 180 divided by 6 is 30.

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4/6 can also be written as ____.

1/2

2/3

This process is called "reducing to the lowest common denominator." Divide the top and bottom by the only number that will go into both evenly -- that's 2 -- and you get 2/3.

1/3

2 and 2/6

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How many nickels make up $10?

200

A dollar is one hundred cents, or 20 nickels. Multiply that by ten, and you get 200.

500

1000

1500

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What does 31/31 equal?

15/16

one

When the numerator and denominator are the same, the equivalent is always one. It doesn't matter how rarified the number is. It could be "707" or "19,999."

two

there is no other way to express this

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Which of these is a prime number?

6

10

11

A prime number is one that can only be divided by itself and 1. Nearly all prime numbers are odd, except for 2.

14

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30 x 37 = ?

337

1110

1337

Done with pencil and paper, it's a bit easier if you put the "30" on the bottom. Then you can automatically fill in a zero, and move on to 37 times 3.

1370

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What is 50 times 25?

250

275

1250

25 times 5 is 125. Then you just bump that up by 10, to 1250.

2500

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What is 1400 times .10?

14

140

".10" is just another way of writing 10 percent. When doing that, you move the decimal point one place to the left. Here, that results in 140.

- 140

.1400

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Where is the decimal point in the number 6,000?

before the six

after the six

after the first zero

after the last zero

You may not see a decimal point, but it's always implied. So 6000 could be written as 6000.0. You'll often see this in financial transactions and accounting, just so it's clear no partial amount was left out. Like, for example, a used car costing $6000.00.

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What is 18 times 4?

36

38

72

A way to do this in your head this is by doubling the 4 to 8, and halving the 18 to 9. This is easier because it's 9 x 8 = 72, something you probably memorized when you learned the multiplication tables.

182

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What is 3 squared?

3

9

Squaring is a number times itself. So 3 times 3 equals nine.

13

30

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Which of these numbers goes into 13 with no remainder?

1

3

13

all of them

only #1 and #3

Thirteen is a prime number. That means that its only multiplier and multiplicand are itself and 1.

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What is 2/4 expressed as a decimal?

.5

It's true that two-fourths is one-half, but that's not a decimal. You have to go further, converting one-half to .5, or 50 percent.

.24

2.4

1/2

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What is 20 percent written as a fraction?

1/4

2/4

1/5

This doesn't make immediate sense to students. It's easier if you first write 20 percent as 2/10, then reduce that to its lowest common denominator, 1/5.

1/6

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What is the next number in the sequence: 7, 22, 37, 52, ___?

59

67

The sequence looks complicated, but the numbers are going up by 15 every time. It only looks complex because the series starts with a random number, 7, instead of zero, 1 or 15.

78

this sequence is random

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If gas costs $3.14 a gallon, how much would you pay for three gallons?

$7.28

$9.14

$9.56

With only three gallons, you can add up the dollars separately ($9), then the cents (.56), and just add them together. Pretty easy. However, props if you caught the "Pi" joke. Happy belated Pi day!

I can't round it off, it goes on forever ...

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