# New chapter - Money Math

By Murray Bourne, 07 Mar 2006

I have said elsewhere in this blog that a lot of the mathematics that students are forced to do is of doubtful use in later life. And one of the most important kinds of mathematics, financial maths, is often left out of most academic math courses.

So I figured I should put my math money where my mouth is, and write a money maths chapter.

So here it is...

### 2 Comments on “New chapter - Money Math”

1. MathTeach says:

Any chance you will consider RED Money for Negatives. Students are not learning the Money Model for Adding and Subtracting signed integers.

So Red money represents a debt, while Green Money is a credit.

2. Murray says:

This is an interesting suggestion, MathTeach. Can you give me more background? Are you talking about young students who have not learned about integers yet?

Accountants use brackets to indicate cost or credit, that is, negative amounts:

($4000) means an outflow of$4000.

Any other comments on this? Should I use red/green, positive/negative or brackets for credit/debit in the money chapter?

I will certainly add a mention of these concepts, but I am not sure if it is appropriate to go the whole hog.

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