Adults stumped by GCSE maths

Researchers investigating the pressures facing modern youngsters at school discovered the tests leave many parents stumped.

When tasked with answering sample GCSE maths questions, on average 40 per cent of parents answered incorrectly and nine out of ten adults “struggled” when their everyday maths skills were put to the test.

The survey of 2,000 UK adults was commissioned by Your Life, which aims to show how studying maths and physics can improve career opportunities.

GCSE maths questions those surveyed were asked to answer included:

An ordinary, fair dice is rolled 420 times. How many times is the number 3 expected? - 46 per cent of parents couldn’t answer this.

50 raffle tickets are sold for 25p each. The winning ticket is picked at random. Linda buys 14 tickets. What is the probability that Linda buys the winning ticket? - 45 per cent of parents couldn’t answer this.

When asked to convert currency, just half of respondents managed to answer correctly - while 49 per cent struggled to calculate how much interest savings would accrue in a year. Answers: 1. 70 2. 7/25