Permjit Singh is a qualified teacher and academic mentor with a PhD in finance. He offers free help to improve everyday numeracy and digital skills, and help with CV preparation (in either English or Punjabi). Send a message

Standing on the inner boundary of Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Gurdwara, Southall 09 and 10 Dec 2023 offering flyers to the Sangat about free classes on "Everyday financial and maths skills". Zoom in to read the posters in Punjabi and English.

There are many reasons why everyday financial and numeracy skills are important:

1) to feel confident or less anxious
2) to save money when shopping
3) to understand household bills
4) to help children with their homework

5) to pay less interest on loans
6) to earn more interest on savings
7) to get a job, or a promotion
8) to enrol on a course

Everyday skills project-Ealing Advice Service

The post and image above are about a project I delivered in partnership with Ealing Advice Service, Mencap, and Clarion in 2024. EAS and Mencap organised the funding and approval to run the 6-month project.

My role was to design and deliver the classes on: everyday maths, CV preparation and digital skills. A couple of the students who attended are shown with their certificates.

This project illustrates what can be achieved by teamwork and cooperation. It is a great shame many other organisations that I have contacted to offer my help for free have responded with ignorance or disinterest. Their behaviour has meant their clients missed the chance to gain skills, increase their confidence and become more independent.

Free maths classes: West Ealing and Northolt libraries

The images below are of classes I offered at West Ealing library, to help library visitors with maths. It was a new venture so the offer ran initially during Nov to Dec 2023 2023, but I later extended it to Jan 2024.

The image of the whiteboard below shows my class from 10-12pm (held each Thursday). Standing by my banner 09/11/23, and at my desk 16/11/23 offering help.

On 11/01/2024 I wrote to the library manager and said: "Unfortunately, after 9 weeks of trying (from 9 Nov until today), I have not had one enquiry for the free maths help I offer at West Ealing library, and so I've decided to throw in the towel and end my surgeries at the library with immediate effect."

In Jun 2025, I offered to run free maths classes again at the library if the library found interested people. I'm not sure what the library's " informal research into the likely uptake of the classes " entailed, but their conclusion was: "there doesn't appear to be an 'appetite' for numeracy support." My offer is on hold in case the outlook changes. It is ironic that so many people in this country have a poor understanding of everyday maths, yet many do nothing about improving even when free help is on offer.

I also offered free numeracy classes at Northolt library. These were far more successful because several people attended and often. It was quite a treck via bus and train from west London and while carrying my banner and laptop.

Troublemakers are not welcome

On 12/06/25 I received this message "Hi my name is ayaan I live at southall and I really need help and support with maths and how to do budget for money". I replied the same day giving my telephone number and asking the person to call me to discuss what help they want. They did not ring.
On 21/07/25, I received a second message from the same person with the same email address, saying "Hi I want to do maths course".

I became suspicious so sent the following email to find out: "Hello
I received a second enquiry from you for help. You did not reply to my email of 12 Jun so I am wondering whether you are wasting my time and harrassing me. If you are genuine then call me by 12pm tomorrow to discuss what you want, or else stop contacting me and wasting my time. P Singh" They did not reply.

Enquiries from people who genuinely want my help are welcome, but people whose real reason is to harass, waste my time, or cause trouble, are not welcome.

Financial maths is essential for everyday tasks

Financial maths is fundamental to activities people perform everyday, such as: buying food, paying the bills, paying tax, buying foreign currency or tickets for holidays, buying insurance, saving money, borrowing money, budgeting, comparing competing offers at the shop. The list is endless.

Research by UCL and Cambridge universities in 2018 found around one in three adults could not correctly answer the following questions:

Suppose, upon your trip to the grocery store you purchase four types of tea packs: Chamomile Tea (£4.60), Green Tea (£4.15), Black Tea (£3.35) and Lemon Tea (£1.80). If you paid for all these items with a £20 note, how much change would you get?
Suppose, a litre of cola costs $3.15. If you buy one-third of a litre of cola, how much will you pay?

Four-in-ten adults in England and Northern Ireland could not correctly apply a simple discount to an everyday household product they might buy when shopping.

Professor John Jerrim of UCL said: "This new research highlights how England is facing a crisis in terms of adults' financial literacy skills. We all need to be able to conduct basic financial calculations in order to make rational well-informed decisions."

The findings also highlight how financial skills are unequally distributed amongst the population. In most countries, men have slightly stronger financial skills than women, while the over-55s were typically the worst performing age group.
"Worryingly, 16-to-24 year-olds in England and Northern Ireland performed particularly poorly on the financial test, compared to young people of the same age in other developed countries," added Professor Jerrim.

The Tory UK government rolled out its Skills for Life Multiply Programme (now discontinued) that provided money to organisations to teach numeracy skills to adults. Their campaign included the following basic numeracy questions that people could try to check their numeracy skills:

Check your numeracy skills

Answer 6 questions below to help you understand areas of numeracy you might want to improve
Takes around 5 minutes to complete the Quiz
Use a calculator if you wish
No pass or fail mark
Multiple-choice questions on everyday maths

Q1 What is 7:20 pm on the 24 hour clock?
a) 7:20 b) 17:20 c) 19:20 d) don't know

Q2 You want to buy from the supermarket 3 sandwiches, 2 cakes and 1 apple. The cost of each is £3.50, £2.50, and 30p respectively. How much money will you need?
a) £15.80 b) £14.20 c) £12.50 d) don't know

Q3 You buy a large bar of chocolate to share between you and 3 other people. You each get 4 pieces of a 16 piece chocolate bar. How much have you eaten as a percentage? a) 35% b) 25% c) 40% d) don't know

Q4 You have played a game 4 times and scored 3, 5, 7, 9 points. What is the average (mean) of your scores? a) 6 b) 24 c) 4 d) I don't know

Q5 You decide to bake a pie. The recipe tells you that the iungredients for the pie crust are in the ratio 3:2:1, 3 parts flour;2 parts butter; 1 part sugar. The recipe says you need 300g of flour. How many grams of butter will the recipe require? a) 152 grams butter and 10 grams of sugar b) 200 grams butter and 100 grams of sugar c) 83 grams butter and 167 grams sugar d) don't know (this is a harder question so don't worry if you aren't sure).

Q6 You have an annual salary of £34,000. You have a tax allowance of £10,000 and you pay a basic rate of income tax at 20%. How much income tax is deducted from your monthly salary? a) 380 b) 400 c) 566 d) don't know.

The image below is from an undated document published by National Numeracy called The essentials of numeracy. It was probably sponsored by KPMG. It may be seen by clicking on the logo on the left. The statistics reveal a shocking deficiency in numeracy skills among adults in the UK

Questions on everyday maths
Submit your answers here

Which is better value: 2 pounds or a kilo of potatoes, each priced at £1.50?
Which saves more money: 50% off a £30 handbag, or 20% off an £80 handbag?
Lentils are sold in 3 weights: 500g for £2.50; 750g for £3.25; 1.5Kg for £7. Which weight is the best value?
What is 1/4 plus 1/3?
What is 1-3+4? a) -6 b) 6 c) 2 d) 0
Which is the ideal blood pressure: a) 80/110 b) 130/85 c) 150/95?
How can you measure exactly 4 litres of milk using only empty 5 or 3 litre jugs?
Which loan costs more: 5% per annum compounded semi-annually, or 5% per annum compounded annually?
Which is the better value offer for flour sold in 1Kg bags at £1.50 each: "3 bags for the price of 2" OR "buy 1 bag and get the second bag half price"?
At an exchange rate of £1:Rupee 105, how many Rupees will £50 buy?
Item A has a price of £50 more than item B, and their combined price is £51. What is the price of item B?
Is a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35 healthier than a BMI of 19?
How much more will you receive by the time you are 65, if you invest £2000 when you are 20 than if you wait until you are 30? Interest is 5% per annum compounded annually. a) £2000 b) £4000 c) £7000 more?
Which investment incurs tax: a) ISA b) bank deposit c) pension contribution
Which is longer: a) 11mm b) 1cm c) 0.01m?
How many 200ml cups can be filled with 1 litre of orange juice diluted at a ratio of 1:4 orange : water?
A dog eats a third of a cake; a cat eats half of what is left. What fraction remains?
A cauliflower cost 95p but now it costs £3.99. a) What is the % increase in its price? b) How much higher (in %) is the current price versus the original price?
A man spends £1000 per month supporting his family. Inflation is 10% per annum. How much must he spend per month so his family does not suffer from inflation?
Flying 6322Km from London to Amritsar takes 8 hours and 15 minutes. What is the average speed in Km per hour? a) 566 b) 366 c) 766?
Which is the cheaper way to buy a car: a) pay £110 per month for a year plus a fee of £10 OR b) pay £1200 now to buy it, using a loan of £1200 repayable in 1 year with interest at 10% per annum?
A flight departs at 02:15 from London. What will the local time be when it lands in Amritsar 8.25 hours later? Amritsar is 5.5 hours ahead of London.
A shop sells carrots at 20p for 400g. What is a) the price per 1Kg and b) weight per £1?
The maximum dose of paracetamol is 4g per 24 hours. What is the maximum number of 500mg tablets that may be taken in 24 hours?
What is a quarter of a half?
180Kg of concrete is to be made using 15Kg of cement, 85Kg of sand, 100Kg of gravel, mixed in the ratio 1:3:5. Which ingredient is insufficient for 180Kg and by how much?
A deposit has grown from £100 to £300 in a year. It has grown by a) 200% b) 100% c) 300%?
Four builders would have built a house in 12 months, but one resigned. The construction will now take: a) 8 months b) 16 months c) 18 months
Gurmit takes 4 hours to lay a path; Harbans takes 2 hours. Working together, how long will they take? a) 90 mins b) 100 mins c) 80 mins
Making 8 loaves of bread requires 5 cups of flour and 3 of water. How many loaves can be made with 20 cups of flour and 15 of water?
What is 4 - 2 + 6 x 8 ÷ 2 a) 0 b) 26 c) 20 d) -24
A, B, and C share £500 in the ratio 3:5:2 What %, fraction, and £ does C get?
Which is the bigger number a) 2.41 or b) 2.409?
Each of the 2 buses Ajit takes to get to work has a probability of being late of 80%. If either is late, then he'll arrive late at work. What is the probability he won't be late?
Arjan wants to buy 1 acre of land and needs to convert this area into metric units. He knows that 1 kanal (an area of measurement commonly used in Punjab) is 5445 square feet, and that 8 kanal is 1 acre. How many square metres of land will he buy? There are 3.281 feet in 1 metre
Look at the electricity bill below. Calculate the electricity charge, the standing charge, the total VAT separately, and also the total payable including VAT. Assume the period of the bill includes the start date and the end date shown. State your answers in pounds and pence rounded to 2 decimal places.
A borrower took a loan for £2500 for 4 years at 8% per annum and compounded annually. An arrangement fee of £500 was paid at the start. He was late paying his interest so the bank charged him a £35 late payment penalty. What was his all-in cost (as a %) for borrowing the money for the 4 years?
What is 1/6 x 2/13 + 1/2 x 3/5?
You're shopping for at least TWO pairs of training shoes. Identical training shoes are on sale. Sprintz is offering two pairs with the second pair at half-price. Footloose is offering 3 pairs for the price of 2 pairs. Sprintz is selling one pair for £42, and Footloose is selling one pair for £48. Which shop has the best offer?
You want to buy 5 tickets to go to the fair. Star Fair is offering 5 tickets including 3 at half-price. Glitz Fair is offering 5 tickets including 2 for free. Single tickets are £15 each at each fair. Which fair has the best offer?
An art gallery is offering the following ticket prices: Single adult £20; Single child £15; 2 adults & 2 children £60; Group of 8 (any age) £150. Find the cheapest price for a) a group of 3 adults and 3 children b) a group of 4 adults and 4 children c) a group of 2 adults and 6 children d) a group of 2 adults and 5 children e) 1 adult and 7 children f) 2 adults and 7 children
You intend to pay out of your bank account £8 (in month 1), £85 (in month 2), and £33 (in month 3). What is the minimum constant amount you must deposit in your bank account at the start of each month so you do not go overdrawn in any month?
You're going on a business trip and need to convert your £800 to USD. Sainsbury's bank is quoting £1:$1.4523 and Tesco bank is quoting £1:$1.5523 Where will you get the most USD, and how much more? On your return, you want to sell $150 for pounds. Where will you get the most pounds, and how much more?

Numerical analysis skills are essential

Test your numerical analysis skills

Instruction: In the questions below, choose the one correct answer from the 5 options given for each question above. For Q5, assume all places available are filled.
Time allowed: Ten minutes. Calculator: You may use any calculator you wish.

Numerical reasoning skills are essential

Test your numerical reasoning skills

Instruction: Choose the one correct answer from the 5 options given for each question below.
Time allowed: Ten minutes. Calculator: You may use any calculator you wish.
Ref: Loughborough University, Mathematics Learning Support Center, [nrpt1/98 A.Croft ]

Numeracy for health is a matter of life and death

Healthcare maths is essential for personal wellbeing

The charity National Numeracy says "Unlike calculating money, or counting eggs in a cake, using numbers in health can be fundamental to our very survival"

National Numeracy has argued that improving numeracy skills in the UK is critical for ensuring that patients are safe to self-manage their care, protect themselves from future illness, and make good choices about their treatments in the NHS. Evidence repeatedly points to numeracy as a key indicator for patients’ abilities to manage their diabetes care, take screening tests, and live healthily. Despite these benefits, the Skills for Life Survey found that 49% of the population is working at or below the level expected of a child at primary school. Further research has found that 61% of the UK population does not have the numeracy-specific skills needed to maintain their health (Rowlands et al.).

Many healthcare calculations require Level 2 functional numeracy skills (roughly equivalent to GCSE A*-C). However, the Skills for Life Survey showed that in 2011, only 21.8% of the population in the UK had numeracy skills to this level.

It is difficult to monitor your weight, understand nutritional labels, or count how many units of alcohol you drink a week without good numeracy skills. There is evidence finding that people with lower numeracy levels are less likely to take screening tests, detecting early signs of fatal diseases. Cancer Research UK found that poor numeracy levels affect people’s decision to take a bowel cancer screening test, independent of their socioeconomic background.

Empowering patients with choice in the NHS is only possible if patients are simultaneously empowered with the numeracy skills needed to make healthcare decisions.

A 30-year-old man is told the Green Zone (the OK zone) is a reading between 80% and 100% of your best reading and the Worry Zone is between 50% and 80% of your best reading. His best reading is 400 L/min but he cannot work out the point that he needs to seek medical help. Apter et al. (2006, 2008).

Diabetes calculations requiring Functional Skills Maths Level 2:
Calculating carbohydrate content in food: Total weight of food (g)/100 X Carbohydrate content of food per 100g = carbohydrate content (g)

Public health bodies must acknowledge growing evidence that improving numeracy is a significant part of improving people’s health and wellbeing, says National Numeracy.

Numeracy levels have been found to be insufficient amongst NHS doctors, especially amongst those who are newly qualified or working in the community (Wheeler et al.).

Studies from twenty years ago found that only 12.7% of doctors could answer a group of five numeracy questions calculating drug doses correctly (Rolfe & Harper). Nurses have similar issues with numeracy (McMullan et al., Jukes & Gilchrist). A study found that only 55% of the Registered Nurses could score over 80% of questions correctly on calculations for oral medication and injections.

The importance of numeracy is reinforced by evidence revealing that many doctors and nurses in the NHS do not have adequate numeracy levels to consistently complete the calculations they must carry out on a day to day basis (Rolfe & Harper, Wheeler et al., McMullan et al., Jukes & Gilchrist). Evidence suggests that medical error results in 755,000 more patients being admitted to hospital each year, costing the NHS £2.5bn per annum (Frontier Economics). Improving and maintaining healthcare workers’ numeracy could therefore contribute significantly to reducing this level of medical error, and improving efficiency in the NHS.

ref National Numeracy

Test your understanding of healthcare maths by trying these questions (click here to go to another page on this website).

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