Guide to Calculate Unit Prices and Total Price
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Calculating unit prices and total prices is an important skill to develop. This skill will not only help in academic scenarios but also in everyday life situations such as grocery shopping or budget planning. Let's break this down into a step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Understanding the Terms
Before we dive into the calculations, let's understand what the terms mean:
Unit Price: This refers to the cost of one unit of an item. For example, if a pack of 5 pencils costs $2.50, the unit price would be the cost of one pencil.
Total Price: This is the total cost of all units of an item. Using the same example, if you bought 2 packs of pencils (10 pencils), the total price would be the cost of these 2 packs.
Step 2: Calculating Unit Price
To find the unit price, divide the total cost of the item by the number of units:
\[ \text{Unit Price} = \frac{\text{Total Cost}}{\text{Number of Units}} \]
For example, if a pack of 5 pencils costs $2.50, the unit price of a pencil is \( \$2.50 ÷ 5 = \$0.50 \) per pencil.
Step 3: Calculating Total Price
To find the total price, multiply the unit price by the number of units:
\[ \text{Total Price} = \text{Unit Price} \times \text{Number of Units} \]
So, if one pencil costs $0.50 and you buy 10 pencils, the total price would be \( \$0.50 \times 10 = \$5.00 \).
Step 4: Practice
Try practicing these calculations with different scenarios. For example, if a 2-liter bottle of juice costs $3.00, what is the price per liter? If you buy 3 bottles, what is the total cost?
Remember, understanding how to calculate unit prices and total prices is a valuable skill. It helps you make informed decisions about the value of different products and understand how much you're spending in total.
Example
Suppose you are at the store, and you see a 12-pack of soda priced at $6.00. You want to find out the unit price of a single soda can and the total price if you were to buy 3 packs.
Step 1: Calculating Unit Price
To calculate the unit price, we'll use the formula:
\[ \text{Unit Price} = \frac{\text{Total Cost}}{\text{Number of Units}} \]
Substituting the values into the formula:
\[ \text{Unit Price} = \frac{\$6.00}{12} \]
Using simple division, we find that the unit price (cost of one soda can) is $0.50.
Step 2: Calculating Total Price
Now, let's say you want to buy 3 packs of soda. To calculate the total price, we'll use the formula:
\[ \text{Total Price} = \text{Unit Price} \times \text{Number of Units} \]
Substituting the values into the formula:
\[ \text{Total Price} = \$0.50 \times (3 \times 12) \]
After doing the multiplication, we find that the total price for buying 3 packs of soda (36 cans) is $18.00.
