Real-Life Math
You are a nursing aide who works on contract for a home health-care
business. This week you have been assigned a new patient named Ichabod.
Ichabod
has just come home from the hospital, and you have spent many hours helping
him get settled. You have done many chores to prepare his home and make him
feel comfortable, such as scheduling a hairdresser, a minister and a local
bridge club to visit.
"You don't use math in any big way on this job,"
says Rhonda Crouch, a health-care assistant and nursing aide. "We aren't licensed
to give out medication, so we don't have to calculate that type of thing.
But we do have to make small calculations like adding up hours, bills and
organizing schedules."
It's Friday afternoon, and the last chore you
need to do before you can go home is order another safety handle for Ichabod's
bathtub. You look in a flyer and see that you can buy a flyweight handle that
will support a person of 60 kilograms, or a heavyweight handle that will support
a person of 100 kilograms. You ask Ichabod how much he weighs.
"About
189 pounds," he replies gruffly.
"And in kilograms?" you ask politely.
He
shrugs his shoulders. Not wanting to pester Ichabod, you must convert his
weight into kilograms to see which handle would be most suitable. Remember
that 1 kilogram equals 2.2 pounds.
Once you have ordered the appropriate
handle, you are finished work. But because it's the end of the week, you calculate
your fee so that you can submit your invoice to the office.
You
receive $9.50 per hour to work a 40-hour week. For any extra hours you work,
you receive overtime pay of $11 per hour. This week you worked 49 hours.
Calculate
Ichabod's weight in kilograms and your pay for this week.