Calculating tips, mileage and foreign-currency equivalents can make travelers break out in a cold sweat.
How much to leave for a tip? How much is that hotel bill in dollars? No time for calculators or paper and pencil. You need to know right now.
To test your Travel Math Anxiety quotient, here are five questions.
The rules: No writing — you have to calculate in your head. Have someone read the questions to you — or read the question and shut your eyes to calculate before you check the answer. Rounding off is allowed. And don’t panic. Just pretend you actually are at the restaurant or shop.
Time yourself on how long it takes you to answer all the questions.
1. Your restaurant tab is $23 and you want to leave a 20 percent tip. How much is the tip?
2. You are visiting London. The exchange rate is 1 pound to $1.54. So if you buy a box of candy that costs 5 pounds, approximately how much is that in dollars?
3. Service at the restaurant wasn’t so good and you only want to leave 15 percent tip on a $14.77 tab. How much is the tip?
4. You are visiting Mexico. The exchange rate is 12.20 pesos to $1. If you buy a scarf for 95 pesos, approximately how much is that in dollars?
5. You have to drive 591 miles in four days. You want to drive the same distance each day. Approximately how many miles a day do you drive?
MATH ANSWERS: 1. Always figure out a 10 percent tip first — easy. That’s $2.30. Then double it to get 20 percent — $4.60.
2. When calculating foreign exchange in your head, always round off the numbers — in this case, use $1.50 instead of $1.54. That means that in dollars, everything is roughly 1 1/2 times the cost it appears in pounds. So 5 pounds x 1.5, $7.50 Close enough.
3. Round the bill up to $15. Figure 10 percent $1.50, and 5 percent is half that, 75 cents. Add those together and get 15 percent, $2.25.
4. Again, round off — think of 12.20 as 12. Divide 95 pesos by 12 and you get about $8. If you get confused, make yourself a mental (or paper) cheat sheet: If $1=12.2 pesos, then $10=122 pesos and $100=1,220 pesos. Then if you see something that costs 100 pesos, you know it’s less than $10.
5. This is an easy question if you have pencil and paper, but in your head, round off — 591 is almost 600. And 600 divided by 4 is easy — 150 — so you have to drive a little bit less than that per day.
