Real-Life Math
While there may be hundreds of women living together as sisters,
there are thousands of others who want to hear their news. And getting that
out to them is no easy task.
"[The newsletter] is a good example of
real-life math, as one must design pages based on the number
of lines of written copy and determine the percentages to enlarge or shrink
pictures when cropping them," says Sister Jill Maria Murdy.
However,
she says the clearest example of using math in her vocation is the preparation
involved in mailing the newsletter.
The sisters have worked hard to
prepare the latest newsletter and now it's your job to ensure its efficient
delivery to the post office. You must know in advance, right to the penny,
how much money you'll need for postage.
There are hundreds of
people from different places who receive the newsletter and you know there
are reduced postage rates for bulk mailing to the same regions. You need to
sort the mail to determine the exact cost. Several of the sisters come to
help and the process begins.
First, the letters are grouped in bundles
of 25. Labels are affixed to the newsletters with codes that indicate the
state and the town they're headed for.
Stickers are placed on
the bundles, which indicate whether the letters in that bundle are going to
the same region or if the bundle is mixed. If the first 3 numbers of the code
match, then you know those letters are headed in the same direction.
If
there are more than 200 pieces with similar codes, you'll get savings
on the postage. If there are less than 200, they must be placed with the mixed
pieces.
After organizing, labeling and counting bundles, you discover
there are enough letters going to 3 regions that qualify for postal savings.
One group of bundles has 250 pieces, another has 270 and the third has 250.
There are another 560 mixed pieces.
A post office brochure provides
the price information you need. More than 200 newsletters of similar codes
cost $0.169 each to mail, while the mixed pieces have a rate of $0.185.
Your
bookkeeper wants to issue funds for the exact amount required by the post
office. Figure out what that amount will be.