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Edexcel International Gcse Maths Student Book 1St Edition Chris Pearce Online Ebook Texxtbook Full Chapter PDF
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CONTENTS
2.11 Repeated percentage change 43 Chapter 10: Applying number and using
calculators 136
Chapter 3: The four rules 46
10.1 Units of measurement 138
3.1 Order of operations 48
10.2 Converting between metric units 139
3.2 Choosing the correct operation 50
10.3 Reading scales 141
3.3 Finding a fraction of a quantity 51
10.4 Time 142
3.4 Adding and subtracting fractions 54
10.5 Currency conversions 145
3.5 Multiplying and dividing fractions 58
10.6 Using a calculator efficiently 147
Chapter 4: Directed numbers 62
Examination questions on Number 148
4.1 Introduction to directed numbers 64
4.2 Everyday use of directed numbers 65
4.3 The number line 67
Algebra
4.4 Adding and subtracting
directed numbers 68
Chapter 11: Algebra and formulae 156
directed numbers 72
11.2 Substitution into formulae 161
11.3 Rearranging formulae 164
Chapter 5: Squares, cubes and roots 74 11.4 More complicated formulae 166
5.1 Squares and square roots 76
Chapter 12: Algebraic manipulation 168
5.2 Cubes and cube roots 78
12.1 Simplifying expressions 170
5.3 Surds 79 12.2 Expanding brackets 174
Chapter 6: Set language and notation 84 12.3 Factorisation 177
12.4 Expanding two brackets 179
6.1 Inequalities 86
12.5 Multiplying more complex expresions 181
6.2 Sets 88
12.6 Quadratic factorisation 185
6.3 Venn diagrams 90
12.7 Factorising ax 2 + bx + c 187
12.8 More than two brackets 188 18.3 Multiplying and dividing with indices 294
12.9 Algebraic fractions 190 18.4 Fractional indices 295
Chapter 13: Solutions of equations 194 Chapter 19: Direct and inverse proportion 300
13.1 Solving linear equations 196 19.1 Direct proportion 302
13.2 Setting up equations 202 19.2 Inverse proportion 307
13.3 More complex equations 205
Chapter 20: Inequalities and regions 310
13.4 Solving quadratic equations
by factorisation 206
20.1 Linear inequalities 312
13.6 Solving quadratic equations 20.4 More than one inequality 322
15.2 Drawing straight line graphs 242 Examination questions on Algebra 352
15.3 More straight line graphs 244
15.4 The equation y = mx + c 248
15.5 Finding equations 251
Geometry and trigonometry
15.6 Parallel and perpendicular lines 252
15.7 Graphs and simultaneous equations 256 Chapter 23: Angle properties 360
23.1 Angle facts 362
Chapter 16: Graphs of functions 258 23.2 Parallel lines 365
16.1 Quadratic graphs 260 23.3 Angles in a triangle 368
16.2 Solving equations with 23.4 Angles in a quadrilateral 371
quadratic graphs 263 23.5 Regular polygons 374
16.3 Other graphs 265 23.6 Irregular polygons 376
16.4 Estimating gradients 268 23.7 Tangents and chords 379
16.5 Graphs of sin x, cos x and tan x 270 23.8 Setting up equations 381
16.6 Transformations of graphs 272 23.9 Cyclic quadrilaterals 385
Chapter 17: Integer sequences 278 23.10 Alternate segment theorem 388
23.11 Intersecting chords 391
17.1 Number sequences 280
17.2 The nth term of a sequence 282 Chapter 24: Geometrical terms and
17.3 Finding the nth term of an arithmetic relationships 394
sequence 285 24.1 Measuring and drawing angles 396
17.4 The sum of an arithmetic sequence 286 24.2 Bearings 398
Chapter overviews
The overview at the start of each
chapter shows what you will be
studying, the key words you need to
know and what you will be expected to
know and do in the examination.
Worked examples
Worked examples take you through
questions step by step and help you
understand the topic before you start
the practice questions.
Colour-coded levels
The colour coded panels at the side of
the question pages show whether the
questions are at Foundation ((blue) or
Higher level (yellow). The on some
topic headings shows that the content
in that topic is at Higher level only.
Exam practice
Each of the four main sections in the
book ends with sample exam questions
from past examinations. These will
show you the types of questions you
will meet in the exams. Mark schemes
are available in the teacher pack.
Why this chapter matters
A pattern is an arrangement of repeated parts. You see
patterns every day in clothes, art and home furnishings.
Patterns also occur in numbers.
Here is a pattern.
3 + 5 = 8 (5 miles ≈ 8 km)
5 + 8 = 13 (8 miles ≈ 13 km)
8 + 13 = 21 (13 miles ≈ 21 km)
6
Chapter
p
Number
4 Square numbers and FOUNDATION square, square number, cube, cube number
cube numbers
6 HCF and LCM FOUNDATION highest common factor, lowest common multiple
● Use the terms odd, even and prime numbers, factors and multiples.
● Identify prime factors, common factors and common multiples.
● Express integers as the product of powers of prime factors.
● Find Highest Common Factors (HCF) and Lowest Common Multiples (LCM).
7
1.1 Multiples of whole numbers
When you multiply any whole number by another whole number, the answer is called a
multiple of either of those numbers. Multiples of 2 are even numbers.
For example, 5 × 7 = 35, which means that 35 is a multiple of 5 and it is also a multiple of 7.
Here are some other multiples of 5 and 7:
multiples of 5 are 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 …
multiples of 7 are 7 14 21 28 35 42 …
35 is a common multiple of 5 and 7. Other common multiples of 5 and 7 are 70, 105, 140 and
so on.
EXERCISE 1A
a 3 b 7 c 9 d 11 e 16
Remember: the first multiple is the number itself.
3 Find the biggest number that is smaller than 100 and that is:
a a multiple of 2 b a multiple of 3
c a multiple of 4 d a multiple of 5
e a multiple of 7 f a multiple of 6.
4 A party of 20 people are getting into taxis. Each taxi holds the same number of passengers.
If all the taxis fill up, how many people could be in each taxi? Give two possible answers.
6 How many numbers between 1 and 100 inclusive are multiples of both 6 and 9?
List the numbers.
8
1.2 Factors of whole numbers
A factor of a whole number is any whole number that divides into it exactly. So:
the factors of 20 are 1 2 4 5 10 20
the factors of 12 are 1 2 3 4 6 12
The common factors of 12 and 20 are 1, 2 and 4. They are factors of both numbers.
Factor facts
Remember these facts.
● 1 is always a factor and so is the number itself.
● When you have found one factor, there is always another factor that goes with it – unless the
factor is multiplied by itself to give the number. For example, look at the number 20:
1 × 20 = 20 so 1 and 20 are both factors of 20
2 × 10 = 20 so 2 and 10 are both factors of 20
4 × 5 = 20 so 4 and 5 are both factors of 20.
These are called factor pairs.
You may need to use your calculator to find the factors of large numbers.
EXAMPLE 1
EXERCISE 1B
a 10 b 28 c 18 d 17 e 25
f 40 g 30 h 45 i 24 j 16
2 What is the biggest factor that is less than 100 for each
of these numbers?
a 110 b 201 c 145 d 117
e 130 f 240
9
FOUNDATION CHAPTER 1: Number
4 Find the highest odd number that is a factor of 40 and a factor of 60.
EXERCISE 1C
4 When three different prime numbers are multiplied together the answer is 105.
What are the three prime numbers?
10
Square numbers and
1.4 cube numbers
From these patterns, you can see that the next pair of factors must be 6 × 6 = 36, therefore 36 is
the next number in the sequence.
Because they form square patterns, the numbers 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, … are called square numbers.
When you multiply any number by itself, the answer is called the square of the number or the
number squared. This is because the answer is a square number. For example:
the square of 5 (or 5 squared) is 5 × 5 = 25
the square of 6 (or 6 squared) is 6 × 6 = 36
There is a short way to write the square of any number. For example:
5 squared (5 × 5) can be written as 52
13 squared (13 × 13) can be written as 132
So, the sequence of square numbers, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, …, can be written as:
12, 22, 32, 42, 52, 62, …
11
CHAPTER 1: Number
EXERCISE 1D
FOUNDATION
3 Find the next three numbers in each of these number patterns. (They are all based on
square numbers.) You may use your calculator.
1 4 9 16 25 36 49 64 81
a 2 5 10 17 26 37 … … …
Look for the connection
b 2 8 18 32 50 72 … … … with the square numbers
on the top line.
c 3 6 11 18 27 38 … … …
d 0 3 8 15 24 35 … … …
4 a Work out each of the following. You may use your calculator.
32 + 42 and 52 52 + 122 and 132
72 + 242 and 252 92 + 402 and 412
b Describe what you notice about your answers to part a.
5 Find:
a 53 b 63 c 103
9 How many cube numbers are there between 2000 and 4000?
12
CHAPTER 1: Number
The following exercise will give you some practice on multiples, factors, square numbers, cube
numbers and prime numbers.
EXERCISE 1E
1 Write out the first three numbers that are multiples of both of the numbers shown.
FOUNDATION
a 3 and 4 b 4 and 5 c 3 and 5 d 6 and 9 e 5 and 7
1 4 6 7
4 One dog barks every 8 seconds and another dog barks every 12 seconds. If both dogs
bark together, how many seconds will it be before they both bark together again?
5 A bell rings every 6 seconds. Another bell rings every 5 seconds. If they both ring together,
how many seconds will it be before they both ring together again?
1 2 7 9
13
1.5 Products of prime numbers
EXAMPLE 2
EXERCISE 1F
d 35 × 5 e 24 × 54 f 210 × 34
14
CHAPTER 1: Number
FOUNDATION
2 Write each of these as a product of prime numbers:
a 72 b 100 c 252 d 560 e 285
f 729 g 444 h 896 i 675 j 1323
Any common multiple must contain all the factors of both numbers.
It must contain 23 and 32 and 5.
The LCM of 60 and 72 = 23 × 32 × 5 = 360
15
CHAPTER 1: Number
EXERCISE 1G
FOUNDATION
2 Find the highest common factor (HCF) of each of these pairs of numbers. You should be
able to spot these without writing out a list of prime factors.
a 8 and 12
b 9 and 12
c 4 and 20
d 15 and 24
e 20 and 50
f 100 and 150
3 Find the highest common factor (HCF) of each of these pairs of numbers.
a 24 and 30
b 36 and 48
c 72 and 96
d 60 and 84
Write each number as a
e 108 and 63 product of prime factors.
f 66 and 78
g 84 and 140
h 165 and 385
16
CHAPTER 1: Number
FOUNDATION
6 Write each of these pairs of numbers as a product of prime factors. Hence find the LCM.
a 12 and 15
b 16 and 24
c 12 and 14
d 25 and 40
e 18 and 21
f 60 and 80
g 32 and 48
h 70 and 55
17
Why this chapter matters
We use percentages and fractions in many situations in our
everyday lives.
● Banks
Interest rates on loans 6.25%.
Interest rates on savings 2.5%.
● Salespeople
Earn 7.5% commission on sales.
● Government
Half of government workers are over 55.
Unemployment has fallen by 1%.
● Workers
My pay rise is 2.3%.
My income tax is 20%.
● Teachers
Your test result is 67%.
Three-fifths of our students gain a grade C
or above in IGCSE mathematics.
18
Chapter
p
Fractions and
percentages
Topics Level Key words
numerator, denominator, cancel, lowest terms,
1 Equivalent fractions FOUNDATION
simplest form, proper fraction, vulgar fraction,
mixed number, top-heavy fraction
decimal, fraction, recurring decimal,
2 Fractions and decimals FOUNDATION
terminating decimal
Percentages, fractions
4 FOUNDATION percentage, decimal equivalent
and decimals
5 Calculating a percentage FOUNDATION quantity, multiplier
Increasing or decreasing
6 FOUNDATION
quantities by a percentage
Expressing one quantity percentage change, percentage increase,
7 FOUNDATION
percentage decrease, percentage profit,
as a percentage of another
percentage loss
Compound interest
10 HIGHER
problems
Repeated percentage
11 HIGHER
change
● Understand and use equivalent fractions, mixed numbers and vulgar fractions ● Convert recurring
and simplify a fraction by cancelling common factors. decimals into
● Express a given number as a fraction or percentage of another number. fractions.
● Convert a fraction to a decimal or percentage and vice versa. ● Use repeated
● Recognise that a terminating decimal is a fraction. percentages.
● Understand percentages and their multiplicative nature as operators. ● Solve compound
● Solve simple percentage problems, including percentage increase and decrease. interest problems.
● Use reverse percentages.
● Use compound interest and depreciation.
19
2.1 Equivalent fractions
Equivalent fractions are two or more fractions that represent the same part of a whole.
EXAMPLE 1
The fraction 34, in Example 1a, is in its lowest terms or simplest form.
This means that the only number that is a factor of both the numerator and denominator is 1.
A fraction with the numerator (top number) smaller than the denominator (bottom number) is
called a proper fraction. An example of a proper fraction is 45.
A vulgar fraction has a bigger numerator (top number) than the denominator (bottom number).
An example of an vulgar fraction is 95. It is sometimes called a top-heavy fraction.
A mixed number is made up of a whole number and a proper fraction. An example of a mixed
number is 134.
EXAMPLE 2
EXAMPLE 3
20
CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
EXERCISE 2A
FOUNDATION
1 Copy and complete the following.
□ □ □
a
2
5 ➞ ×× 44 = 20 b
1
4 ➞ ×× 33 = 12 c
3
8 ➞ ×× 55 = 40
d
2
3 ➞ ×× □ =□
□ 18
e
3
4 ➞ ×× □ =□
□ 12
f
5
8 ➞ ×× □ =□
□ 40
2 Copy and complete the following.
a
10
15 ➞ ÷÷ 55 = □
□
b
12
15 ➞ ÷÷ 33 = □
□
c
20
28 ➞ ÷÷ 44 = □
□
d
12
18 ➞ ÷÷ □ =□
□ □
e
15
25 ➞ ÷÷ □5 = □
□
f
21
30 ➞ ÷÷ □ =□
□ □
3 Cancel each of these fractions to its simplest form.
a
4 b
5 c
12 d
6 e
3
6 15 18 8 9
f
5 g
14 h
28 i
10 j
4
10 16 35 20 16
4 Put the fractions in each set in order, with the smallest first.
a
1, 5, 2 b
3, 1, 5 c
7 , 2, 1 d
2, 3, 7 e
1, 1, 1 f
9 , 3, 4
2 6 3 4 2 8 10 5 2 3 4 12 6 3 4 10 4 5
a
7 b
8 c
9 d
10 e
12 f
7
3 3 4 7 5 5
a 31 b 55 c 14 d 52 e 41 f 52
3 6 5 7 10 3
g 21 h 31 i 71 j 35 k 61 l 98
2 4 6 8 3 9
9 Check your answers to questions 1 and 2, using the fraction buttons on your calculator.
21
FOUNDATION CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
They all have 6 tenths. The largest is 6.2 because it has 2 hundredths. The smallest is 0.6
because it has no hundredths.
EXAMPLE 4
You can convert a fraction into a decimal by dividing the numerator by the denominator.
EXAMPLE 5
a Express 83 as a decimal.
3
8 means 3 ÷ 8. This is a division calculation.
So, 83 = 3 ÷ 8 = 0.375
22
CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
b Express 95 as a decimal.
5
9 = 5 ÷ 9 = 0.555 …
The decimal expression does not stop. The dots show that the sequence. of 5s could
continue forever. We call this a recurring decimal. It can be written as 0.5 .
0.375 is called a terminating decimal. The decimal expression stops after three
digits in this case.
EXERCISE 2B
FOUNDATION
1 Convert each of these decimals to fractions, cancelling where possible.
a 0.7 b 0.4 c 0.5 d 0.03 e 0.06
f 0.13 g 0.25 h 0.38 i 0.55 j 0.64
a
1 b
3 c
3 d
9
2 4 5 10
e
1 f
5 g
7 h
7
8 8 8 20
3 Put each of the following sets of numbers in order, with the smallest first.
a 0.6, 0.3, 1 b
2, 0.8, 0.3
2 5
c 0.35, 1, 0.15 d
7 , 0.72, 0.71 Convert the fractions to
4 10 decimals first.
a
1 b
2 c
1 d
4 e
1 f
8
3 3 9 9 11 11
a
5 b
5 c
5 d
5 e
5
8 9 10 11 12
23
2.3 Recurring decimals
So 0.3636… = 4
11
EXERCISE 2C
24
CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
HIGHER
4 Write these recurring decimals as fractions:
. .. ..
a 0.5 b 0.24 c 0.48
100% means the whole of something. So if you want to, you can express part of the whole as
a percentage.
Per cent means ‘out of 100’.
So, any percentage can be converted to a fraction with denominator 100.
For example:
Any fraction can be converted to a percentage by converting the denominator to 100 and taking
the numerator as the percentage.
For example:
2 = 40 = 40%
5 100
Fractions can also be converted to percentages by dividing the numerator by the denominator
and multiplying by 100%.
For example:
2 = 2 ÷ 5 × 100% = 40%
5
25
CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
Knowing the percentage and decimal equivalents of common fractions is extremely useful.
1 = 0.5 = 50% 1 = 0.25 = 25% 3 = 0.75 = 75% 1 = 0.125 = 12.5%
2 4 4 8
The following table shows how to convert from one to the other.
EXAMPLE 6
3 7
Convert the following to decimals: a 78% b 35% c 25 d 40.
26
CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
EXAMPLE 7
7
Convert the following to percentages: a 0.85 b 0.125 c 20 d 83.
a 0.85 = 0.85 × 100% = 85% b 0.125 = 0.125 × 100% = 12.5%
7 35 3
c 20 = 100 = 35% d 8 = 3 ÷ 8 × 100% = 0.375 × 100% = 37.5%
EXAMPLE 8
EXERCISE 2D
FOUNDATION
1 Write each percentage as a fraction in its simplest form.
a 8% b 50% c 25%
d 35% e 90% f 75%
d 17 e 11
f 7
50 40 8
5 1 1
d e f
16 20 8
27
FOUNDATION CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
7 a Convert each of the following test scores into a percentage. Give each answer to
the nearest whole number.
Subject Result Percentage
Mathematics 38 out of 60
English 29 out of 35
Science 27 out of 70
History 56 out of 90
Technology 58 out of 75
b If all the tests are of the same standard, which was the highest result?
To calculate a percentage of a quantity, you multiply the quantity by the percentage. The
percentage may be expressed as either a fraction or a decimal. When finding percentages
without a calculator, base the calculation on 10% (or 1%) as these are easy to calculate.
EXAMPLE 9
28
CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
EXAMPLE 10
EXERCISE 2E
FOUNDATION
1
4 An estate agent charges 2% commission on every house he sells. How much commission
will he earn on a house that he sells for $120 500?
29
FOUNDATION CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
5 A store had 250 employees. During one week of a flu epidemic, 14% of the store’s
employees were absent.
a What percentage of the employees went into work?
b How many of the employees went into work?
6 It is thought that about 20% of fans at a soccer match are women. For one match there
were 42 600 fans. How many of these do you think were women?
7 At a Paris railway station, in one week 350 trains arrived. Of these trains, 5% arrived early
and 13% arrived late. How many arrived on time?
9 A school had 850 pupils and the attendance record in one week was:
Monday 96% Tuesday 98% Wednesday 100% Thursday 94% Friday 88%
How many pupils were present each day?
11 Air consists of 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen (by volume). A man’s lungs have a capacity
of 600 cm3. How much of each gas will he have in his lungs when he has just taken a
deep breath?
12 A factory estimates that 1.5% of all the garments it produces will have a fault in them.
One week the factory produces 850 garments. How many are likely to have a fault?
13 An insurance firm sells house insurance and the annual premiums are usually set at 0.3%
of the value of the house. What will be the annual premium for a house valued at $90 000?
14 Average prices in a shop went up by 3% last year and 3% this year. Did the actual
average price of items this year rise by more, the same amount, or less than last year?
Explain how you decided.
30
Increasing or decreasing
2.6 quantities by a percentage
Increasing by a percentage
There are two methods for increasing a quantity by a percentage.
Method 1
Work out the increase and add it on to the original amount.
EXAMPLE 11
Increase $6 by 5%.
Method 2
Use a multiplier. An increase of 6% is equivalent to the original 100% plus the extra 6%.
This is a total of 106% and is equivalent to the multiplier 1.06
EXAMPLE 12
EXERCISE 2F
2 Increase each of the following by the given percentage. (Use any method you like.)
a $60 by 4% b 12 kg by 8%
c 450 g by 5% d 545 m by 10%
e $34 by 12% f $75 by 20%
g 340 kg by 15% h 670 cm by 23%
i 130 g by 95% j $82 by 75%
k 640 m by 15% l $28 by 8%
31
FOUNDATION CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
3 Azwan, who was on a salary of $27 500, was given a pay rise of 7%. What is his
new salary?
4 In 2005 the population of a city was 1 565 000. By 2010 it had increased by 8%.
What was the population of the city in 2010?
5 A small firm made the same pay increase of 5% for all its employees.
a Calculate the new pay of each employee listed below. Each of their salaries before
the increase is given.
Caretaker, $16 500 Supervisor, $19 500
Driver, $17 300 Manager, $25 300
b Explain why the actual pay increases are different for each employee.
6 A bank pays 7% interest on the money that each saver keeps in the bank for a year.
Allison keeps $385 in the bank for a year. How much will she have in the bank after the
year?
7 In 1980 the number of cars on the roads of a town was about 102 000. Since then it has
increased by 90%. Approximately how many cars are there on the roads of the town now?
8 An advertisement for a breakfast cereal states that a special-offer packet contains 15%
more cereal for the same price as a normal 500 g packet. How much breakfast cereal is in
a special-offer packet?
9 A headteacher was proud to point out that, since he had arrived at the school, the number
of students had increased by 35%. How many students are now in the school, if there
were 680 when the headteacher started at the school?
10 At a school concert there are always about 20% more girls than boys. If at one concert
there were 50 boys, how many girls were there?
11 A government adds a sales tax to the price of most goods in shops. One year it is 17.5%
on all electrical equipment.
Calculate the price of the following electrical equipment when sales tax of 17.5% is added.
Equipment Pre-sales tax price
TV set $245
Microwave oven $72
CD player $115
Personal stereo $29.50
32
CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
Decreasing by a percentage
There are two methods for decreasing by a percentage.
Method 1
Work out the decrease and subtract it from the original amount.
EXAMPLE 13
Decrease $8 by 4%.
Method 2
Use a multiplier. A 7% decrease is equivalent to 7% less than the original 100%, so it represents
100% – 7% = 93% of the original. This is a multiplier of 0.93
EXAMPLE 14
EXERCISE 2G
FOUNDATION
a 8% b 15% c 25% d 9% e 12%?
2 Decrease each of the following by the given percentage. (Use any method you like.)
a $10 by 6% b 25 kg by 8%
c 236 g by 10% d 350 m by 3%
e $5 by 2% f 45 m by 12%
g 860 m by 15% h 96 g by 13%
i 480 cm by 25% j 180 minutes by 35%
k 86 kg by 5% l $65 by 42%
3 A car valued at $6500 last year is now worth 15% less. What is its value now?
33
FOUNDATION CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
4 A new diet guarantees that you will lose 12% of your mass in the first month. What mass
should the following people have after one month on the diet?
a Gracia, who started at 60 kg b Pierre, who started at 75 kg
c Greta, who started at 52 kg
5 A motor insurance firm offers no-claims discounts off the full premium, as follows.
1 year with no claims 15% discount off the full premium
2 years with no claims 25% discount off the full premium
3 years with no claims 45% discount off the full premium
4 years with no claims 60% discount off the full premium
Mr Patel and his family are all offered motor insurance from this firm.
Mr Patel has four years’ no-claims discount and the full premium would be $440.
Mrs Patel has one year’s no-claims discount and the full premium would be $350.
Sandeep has three years’ no-claims discount and the full premium would be $620.
Priyanka has two years’ no-claims discount and the full premium would be $750.
Calculate the actual amount each member of the family has to pay for the motor insurance.
6 A large factory employed 640 people. It had to streamline its workforce and lose 30% of
the workers. How big is the workforce now?
7 On the last day of term, a school expects to have an absence rate of 6%. If the school
population is 750 students, how many students will the school expect to see on the last
day of term?
8 Most speedometers in cars have an error of about 5% from the true reading. When my
speedometer says I am driving at 70 km/h,
a what is the lowest speed I could be doing?
b what is the highest speed I could be doing?
9 Kerry wants to buy a sweatshirt ($19), a tracksuit ($26) and some running shoes ($56).
If she joins the store’s premium club which costs $25 to join she can get 20% off the cost
of the goods.
Should she join or not? Use calculations to support your answer.
34
Expressing one quantity as a
2.7 percentage of another
You find one quantity as a percentage of another by writing the first quantity as a fraction of the
second, making sure that the units of each are the same. Then you can convert the fraction into
a percentage by multiplying by 100%.
EXAMPLE 15
EXAMPLE 16
Percentage change
A percentage change may be a percentage increase or a percentage decrease.
change
Percentage change = × 100%
original amount
Use this to calculate percentage profit or percentage loss in a financial transaction.
EXAMPLE 17
Jake buys a car for $1500 and sells it for $1800. What is Jake’s percentage profit?
35
CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
EXERCISE 2H
1 Express each of the following as a percentage. Give suitably rounded figures (see page 116)
FOUNDATION
where necessary.
a $5 of $20 b $4 of $6.60 c 241 kg of 520 kg
d 3 hours of 1 day e 25 minutes of 1 hour f 12 m of 20 m
g 125 g of 600 g h 12 minutes of 2 hours i 1 week of a year
j 1 month of 1 year k 25 cm of 55 cm l 105 g of 1 kg
2 Liam went to school with his pocket money of $2.50. He spent 80 cents at the shop.
What percentage of his pocket money had he spent?
3 In Greece, there are 3 654 000 acres of agricultural land. Olives are grown on 237 000
acres of this land. What percentage of the agricultural land is used for olives?
4 During one year, it rained in Detroit on 123 days of the year. What percentage of days
were wet?
5 Find the percentage profit on the following. Give your answers to one decimal place.
Item Retail price Wholesale price
(selling price) (price the shop paid)
a CD player $89.50 $60
b TV set $345.50 $210
c Computer $829.50 $750
6 Before Anton started to diet, his mass was 95 kg. His mass is now 78 kg. What percentage
of his original mass has he lost?
7 In 2009 a city raised $14 870 000 in local tax. In 2010 it raised $15 597 000 in tax.
What was the percentage increase?
8 When Ziad’s team won the soccer league in 1995, they lost only four of their 42 league
games. What percentage of games did they not lose?
36
CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
FOUNDATION
10 Imran and Nadia take the same tests. Both tests are out of the same mark.
Here are their results. Test A Test B
Imran 12 17
Nadia 14 20
Whose result has the greater percentage increase from test A to test B?
Show your working.
12 Aya buys antiques and then sells Item Aya bought for: Aya sold for:
them on the internet. Vase $10 5 $84
Find her percentage profit or loss on Radio $72 $90
each of these items: Doll $15 $41.25
Toy train $50 $18
Reverse percentage questions involve working backwards from the final amount to find the original
amount when you know, or can work out, the final amount as a percentage of the original amount.
EXAMPLE 18
The price of a car increased by 6% to $9116. Work out the price before the increase.
37
CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
EXAMPLE 19
In a sale the price of a freezer is reduced by 12%. The sale price is $220.
What was the price before the sale?
EXERCISE 2l
FOUNDATION
3 Sales tax is added to goods and services. With sales tax at 17.5%, what is the pre-sales tax
price of the following goods?
T-shirt $9.87 Tights $1.41 Shorts $6.11
Sweater $12.62 Trainers $29.14 Boots $38.07
4 Howard spends $200 a month on food. This is 24% of his monthly pay. How much is his
monthly pay?
5 Tina’s weekly pay is increased by 5% to $315. What was Tina’s pay before the increase?
6 The number of workers in a factory fell by 5% to 228. How many workers were there
originally?
7 In a sale the price of a TV is reduced to $500. This is a 7% reduction on the original price.
What was the original price?
8 If 38% of plastic bottles in a production line are blue and the remaining 7750 plastic
bottles are brown, how many plastic bottles are blue?
38
CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
FOUNDATION
9 I pay $385 sales tax on a car. Sales tax is 17.5% of the purchase price. How much did I
pay for the car?
11 Manza buys a car and sells it for $2940. He made a profit of 20%.
What was the original price of the car?
12 When a suit is sold in a shop the selling price is $171 and the profit is 80%.
What was the original price?
13 Oliver buys a chair. He sells it for $63 in an auction and makes a loss of 55%.
What did he pay for the chair?
14 A woman’s salary increased by 5% in one year. Her new salary was $19 845.
How much was the increase in dollars?
15 After an 8% increase, the monthly salary of a chef was $1431. What was the original
monthly salary?
16 Cassie invested some money at 4% compound interest per annum for two years. After two
years, she had $1406.08 in the bank. How much did she invest originally?
17 A teacher asked her class to work out the original price of a cooker for which, after a 12%
increase, the price was 291.20 dollars.
This is Lee’s answer: 12% of 291.20 = 34.94 dollars
Original price = 291.2 – 34.94 = 256.26 ≈ 260 dollars
When the teacher read out the answer Lee ticked his work as correct.
What errors has he made?
39
2.9 Interest and depreciation
When you put money in a bank you are paid interest each year.
EXAMPLE 20
In the example Boris was paid $30 interest in the first year and $31.50 in the second year.
The amount of interest increases each year as his money increases.
This is an example of compound interest.
If you buy a new car or a computer or a washing machine, the value goes down each year.
This is called depreciation.
Depreciation is often expressed as a percentage.
EXAMPLE 21
EXERCISE 2J
FOUNDATION
40
CHAPTER 2: Fractions and percentages
FOUNDATION
3 Luis puts $750 in a bank.
He is paid 5% interest in the first year and 4% in the second year.
a Work out how much he has after two years.
b How much interest is paid to him?
7 Marta puts $10 000 in a bank. She is paid interest of 10% a year.
a How much does she have after i 1 year ii 2 years iii 3 years?
b Work out the interest she is she paid i in the first year ii in the second year
iii in the third year.
41
2.10 Compound interest problems
When you are working out compound interest for a number of years, you can use the
power button on your calculator to find the answer more efficiently.
EXAMPLE 22
Elspeth put $4000 in a bank account. She is paid 6% compound interest.
Work out how much interest she has after 5 years.
The multiplier for an increase of 6% is 1.06
After 5 years she has $4000 × 1.06 × 1.06 × 1.06 × 1.06 × 1.06
You can write this as $4000 × 1.065 = $5352.90
You should be able to use your calculator to find this.
Round your answer to 2 decimal places.
The interest is $5352 – $4000 = $1352
EXERCISE 2K
HIGHER
3 Lee put $1000 in a bank. Find the total value in the following cases:
a 3% interest is paid for 7 years
b 7% interest is paid for 3 years
c 5% interest is paid for 5 years
4 Rania puts $2000 in a bank where she is given 5% interest. Work out the interest she has
a after 1 year b after 5 years c after 10 years
5 A man puts $500 in a bank for 4 years. How much is it worth if the interest rate is
a 2.5% b 5% c 7.5% d 10%?
42
2.11 Repeated percentage change
Repeated percentage changes include compound interest and depreciation but there are many
other examples.
EXAMPLE 23
In one year the population of a town increases by 5%.
The next year the population increases by 10%.
Work out the overall percentage change.
You have not been told the initial population of the town. You can work out the overall
percentage change without it.
The multiplier for a 5% increase is 1.05
The multiplier for a 10% increase is 1.1
The combined multiplier is 1.05 × 1.1 = 1.155
This is the multiplier for an increase of 15.5%.
If you want to check that is correct you can choose any population to start with.
Suppose the population is 10 000.
After one year it is 10 000 × 1.05 = 10 500
After 2 years it is 10 500 × 1.1 = 11 550
The increase is 1550 and the percentage increase is 101550
000 × 100% = 15.5%
This is the same answer. It is quicker just to use the multipliers.
EXAMPLE 24
The number of birds of one species in a wood increases by 12% in one year.
The next year it decreases by 15%.
Find the overall percentage change.
The multipliers are 1.12 and 0.85
The combined multiplier is 1.12 × 0.85 = 0.952
1 – 0.952 = 0.048 so this is the multiplier for a 4.8% decrease.
EXERCISE 2L
HIGHER
43
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protoplasm has made; and when the sharp
end of a hair sticks into your finger, the little
turned-up end breaks off, and the poisonous
juice gets into the wound and irritates and
causes the finger to swell a little.
There is a way to take hold of a nettle so
that it cannot sting. The little poison-filled
hairs all point up, as you see in the picture. So
if you stroke the nettle or draw your hand over
it from root to tip, it cannot hurt you. Your
hand presses the hairs flat against the stem
and they cannot stick into you.
Sometimes hairs branch and make
a thick network, like felt, over the leaf.
They do this in the mullein, and here
is a picture of mullein hairs very
highly magnified.
Prickles and scales are made of cells
as hairs are.
All parts of the plant above ground
and sometimes the roots are covered
with skin, but only the parts above
ground are covered with hairs or
prickles. Some plants are abundantly
supplied with these protections;
others manage to get along without them.
Plants very often have glands in their skins. These glands are
merely cells which take certain things from the sap and pour them
out on the outside of the plant.
Glands secrete their fluids inside the skin cells, and these fluids
finally break through the outer wall of the skin cell and so get to the
surface, or else they pass through stomata specially provided for
them. They sometimes cover the surface of the plant with a sticky
substance, as is the case with young birch twigs.
Glands also secrete the gum or resin which covers up the winter
buds and keeps out the rain, and which makes the young leaves of
the cherry shine so.
Some plants secrete wax which covers leaves or stems or fruits.
Bayberry berries are covered with white wax, of which fragrant
candles can be made.
Bayberry grows abundantly all along the New England coast, and
friends of Thoreau used to make these fragrant candles as Christmas
presents. Whenever Thoreau went to visit them, he insisted upon
having a bayberry candle to go to bed by.
The bloom on cabbage leaves and on plums and other fruits is
made of tiny scales of wax.
Wax is a very good
substance to keep
the plant dry. You
may be sure the
plant knows this and
often uses it about
the stomata. You
see, the object is to
allow water to pass
freely out of the
stomata by
evaporation, but
not, as a rule, to pass Bayberry.
into them. So the
clever plants often
have wax instead of hairs as a protection to the stomata. It would not
do at all to let the stomata get closed up, so they are always protected
in some way. Sometimes little projections grow out of the skin, close
to the stomata. The raindrops fall upon these little knobs and stay
there, instead of settling down into the stomata. You see, the pegs are
very small, and when the rain falls on them there is a layer of air
below them which the water cannot displace, and which prevents it
from going any farther.
If you want to know just where the stomata are situated in a leaf,
plunge it in water, then shake the drops off and notice what part of
the leaf has not been wet. Wherever the leaf is dry, there are the
stomata. In many plants, as, for instance, the jewelweed, it is quite
impossible to wet the leaf. Soak it in water for an hour, and when you
take it out it is dry! The parts that cannot be wet usually have a
silvery, glistening appearance. Put the leaf in water and notice where
it glistens; there are the stomata,—sometimes all over the under side
of the leaf, sometimes in lines or patches, sometimes on both sides of
the leaf.
Wax, gum, and resin are not the only things plant glands secrete.
There are the glands in the flower cups that secrete nectar. In some
plants this breaks through the delicate plant skin and runs into and
fills up the little hollows or horns we call nectaries. In others the
nectar is provided with stomata by means of which it can escape
from the interior of the plant.
You may be surprised to learn that the flower is not the only part
of the plant that can secrete nectar!
In some plants the stipules do it, and in some even the stems.
This is not to call visitors to the flowers, but perhaps to keep them
away. Where ants trouble the flowers, certain kinds have invented
this very clever way of stopping the unwelcome visitors. They do not
want the ants to take the honey from the flowers, so they secrete
honey on the leaves or stems, and the ants take that instead of
traveling on to the flowers.
Of course each living skin cell contains protoplasm. The
protoplasm lies in a thin layer against the walls and builds, builds,
builds, until the skin is thick enough.
When a good thick wall has been built, the protoplasm passes out
through tiny openings in the inner wall into the inside cells, where it
goes to work doing something else. The skin cells are then empty of
protoplasm; they are only filled with air, and we say they are dead
cells. Their hard walls are a good protection to the plant. In stems
there is often a layer of thick cells behind the skin cells which also
protects. These are called cork cells.
All very young plants have their stems covered with living skin.
Older plants, particularly woody ones, have their stems covered
with the tough, dead skin. And trees have finally a thick layer of dead
cork cells. In tree trunks the skin cells have disappeared entirely. The
skin protected the young shoot; then its empty cells finally peeled off,
as the cork cells formed underneath and made a thick bark. The bark
then does the work of the skin. It protects the stem. It becomes very
thick sometimes, as layers are constantly added beneath. The outside
of the bark keeps peeling and scaling off.
Of course there are no stomata in bark. We find them only in the
living skin. Bark does not need stomata, as it does not regulate the
water supply. The young green parts of the plant do that by means of
their covering of living skin. Living skin is usually transparent like
glass.
It is tough and yet transparent. You see, the light must get through
it to the cells which lie behind it.
There is usually no green color in skin. Sometimes there are other
coloring materials, though not as a rule.
The living skin covers the leaf or stem or other part of the plant
like a window of tough glass. Even where the skin is several cells
thick, the light can pass through, just as it can through thick glass.
TUBE CELLS.
The top of a tree is a long way from the roots. Yet the leaves must
have food from the roots, and the roots must have food from the
leaves.
It is not an easy matter to move all this food material up and down,
you may be sure.
I wonder how you would manage it?
Why, you say, if I had to raise sap from under the ground to the
top of the tree, I should certainly build some pipes and have a pump
at the top.
That is the way the plant has decided. So pipes there are, plenty of
them,—pipes or tubes of many sizes and shapes.
You know how cells grow, lying next each other. Well, tube cells
are long and contain protoplasm in the beginning. They lie end to
end. But, you see, it would not be very easy for the sap to pass
through millions of cell walls on its way up.
So when the protoplasm has built a row of cells with good thick
walls, it passes out through thin places or openings it has left in the
walls. The end partitions between the tube cells are thin and break
away, and lo and behold! we have a long, strong tube with nothing in
it but air. Up this tube the sap creeps or down it the sap runs. A great
many of these tubes, which are as fine as hairs or much finer in some
cases, are needed in a plant. They run all through the stems and out
into the leaves. They are collected into bundles, and form part of the
veins and the framework of leaves. I do not know what the plant
would do without them.
But what makes the sap run up the tubes?
Now you are asking questions! It took a long time for people to
find that out, for there is more than one reason why the sap runs up.
For one thing, the root cells keep drawing in water and other
things, and the fluid already in is pushed up by that behind; so there
is a sort of pump at the bottom of the plant, you see,—a force pump.
The sun shining on the leaves and stems evaporates the water above,
and the water below then easily takes its place; so there is a sort of
suction pump at the top.
Then the tubes are so very fine that the fluid
in them tends to move up, just as water will
soak up into a towel if the fringe happens to
get into the water; for you know that if you
hang a towel so that the fringe dips into a
basin of water, after awhile the whole towel
will be wet, as a result of what we call capillary
attraction. For all these reasons the sap creeps
up the stems through the tubes the cells have
made.
Every plant has these tubes, from the tiniest
weed in the garden to the tallest forest tree.
Although so small, they are often very prettily
marked by lines and dots.
STRENGTHENING CELLS.
Plants need something more than cells of working protoplasm and
something more than tubes, just as we need more than flesh and
blood vessels.
We would be in a sad plight if we had no bones to keep
us in place, and plants would be in a sad plight if they had
no—well, not exactly bones, but something to serve the
same purpose.
Think of the weight a tree has to bear. You could not
begin to lift the crown of a large tree, yet the tree trunk
has to hold it up in the air. Not only that,—it has to hold
on to it when the wind blows, which is a much harder
task. Even small bushes and tender garden plants have
quite a weight to bear and quite a task to keep their leaves
and stems from being blown away. They could never hold
on to them if it were not for the wood and other tough
cells they have,—never in the world.
These wood cells and other tough cells are made by
protoplasm, of course.
The protoplasm builds them very much as it does the
tube cells, long and slender, as you see in the picture at
the beginning of the chapter, and then when the hard,
tough walls are all done, the protoplasm slips out and
leaves the strong framework of tough fibres to do its duty.
This framework is not only strong, it is elastic, so it can
bend easily. If it were not, the first strong wind or the first
thing that happened to bend the plant would snap it off short.
You cannot break wood easily, and, if you do succeed, it always
bends more or less first. Some wood bends more easily than others,
as you know. A willow twig can be tied into a knot, it bends so easily.
Nearly all land plants have these stiffening cells. They run out of
the stems down into the leaves and help make their framework of
“veins.” The tubes and the strengthening fibres run along in bundles
side by side. You see this saves space. If the tubes and strengthening
fibres each took a different road, that would not leave much space for
the chlorophyll and other working cells. But all the tubes and fibres
are closely packed together and run lengthwise, through the stem. All
around these long fibres are placed the other cells which are not long
and do not form tubes or fibres. Most of those other cells in the leaf
contain chlorophyll. They contain protoplasm, and do the work of
transforming food materials into plant material.
WE AND THE PLANT PEOPLE.
We live and the plants live.
Probably neither we nor the plants
spend much time thinking about
what we owe to each other.
The plants are excusable for
this, for they are not great
thinkers, at least so far as we
know.
But we owe so much to them,
we ought to stop and think about
it once in a while. We are indebted
to them not only for the food we
eat, but for the air we breathe.
We know about chlorophyll and
the starch it makes, and how this
starch is stored up in potatoes and
wheat and corn and rice and all
sorts of food grains and
vegetables.
We know, too, how the roots
suck up substances from the earth
which we need in our bodies, and
how they are stored away with the
starch or sometimes by
themselves. We know, in short,
how all the food we eat is made
first or last by the plants. Not only
do we owe our food to the plants,
but all animals do.
You see, animal cells are not
able to take carbon dioxide and
water and ammonia and other
gases and minerals and work them
up into living cells.
The plants have to do this for them; and then the animals eat the
plants, for animal cells are able to work starch and sugar and plant
protoplasm over into animal protoplasm, which can build all sorts of
animal cells. So all the animals in the world get their food from the
plant world. If the plants were to stop living, all the animals in the
world would soon starve to death. The word “animals,” you know,
means every living thing that is not a plant; in this sense flies and
bees and oysters and caterpillars are animals as well as dogs and cats
and such large creatures. Last of all, we ourselves are animals.
So the animal world would be in a sad predicament if anything
should happen to the plants.
But there is more to thank the plants for than food. That is a pretty
large item certainly; but what do you think of having to thank them
for the air we breathe as well? Yet this we shall have to do if we begin
thanking them at all.
You know about oxygen, of course. It is one of the gases that make
up the air; and I may as well remind you that air is composed
principally of oxygen and nitrogen gases,—about four times as much
nitrogen as oxygen, but the oxygen is the most important to us. We
do not use the nitrogen in the air at all probably. It serves the
purpose of diluting the oxygen, which would be too strong for us if it
were not mixed with nitrogen. But what we do use is the oxygen.
That goes into our lungs, and some of it does not come out again.
It passes into the lung cells and from them into the blood, and is
carried by it all over our bodies to all the millions of cells.
We need a great deal of oxygen, and if the supply should be cut
short we would die.
All animals need oxygen; even the worms in the ground and the
fishes and oysters in the water must have it. So great quantities are
being used up all the time.
Now, you know, when the plants pull carbon dioxide to pieces,
they keep the carbon and return the oxygen to the air. In this way we
get it to breathe.
But there is more than this to the matter in hand. We are all the
time breathing out carbon dioxide as an impurity; so are all the
millions upon millions of animals in the world.
The air might in time contain enough carbon dioxide to kill us if
there were not some way of getting rid of it. You know what that way
is.
The plants use it up. So by giving oxygen into the air and taking
out carbon dioxide, the plants keep the air fit for us and all animals
to breathe.
But there is more than this we
have to thank them for.
They shade the earth and
regulate the rainfall and the
water supply.
Where forests grow there are
always streams of water, and the
large water courses are kept full
the year round.
The Mississippi River
depends upon the far-away
forests for its broad stream.
The spreading crowns of the
trees shade the earth and
prevent the water which falls as
rain or dew from evaporating
rapidly. It collects into streams
and flows through the land,
keeping the earth fresh and beautiful.
More than this,—large forests cause the rain to fall and the dew to
collect. Their leaves condense the moisture in the air and cause it to
fall as rain or be deposited as dew.
When people recklessly cut down the forests in a country, the
water courses dry up, and even the largest rivers are affected.
When the spring rains fall over a country whose trees have been
cut away, the water rushes down the little streams all at once and
causes a terrific flood in the large rivers. It soon drains away; then
the rivers fall lower and lower until they nearly dry up. This state of
affairs is a great calamity, because the people can no longer raise
crops on the land near where the old forests stood, for it is parched
and dry months at a time.
Moreover, boats laden with coal and grain and all sorts of things
can no longer pass up and down the rivers, because the water is too
low.
People ought to think of these things and not destroy too much
forest land. After awhile we shall have to go to work and plant trees
instead of cutting them down or burning them; but it takes a long
time for trees to grow, and a wiser way would be for us to take care of
those we have.
You have heard a great deal about plants eating and the good they
do us by eating the carbon dioxide in the air. They take this in
through their leaves, and you remember they take in all their other
food materials—water, nitrogen compounds, sodium, potassium,
magnesium, and many other substances—through their roots.
But they do more than eat; they also breathe.
They breathe everywhere over the surface of their bodies where
there are stomata or where the skin is not too thick for the air to
penetrate it.
And I must tell you they breathe just as we do,—that is, they take
in air, use the oxygen, and give off the carbon dioxide.
It seems rather inconsistent of them to take in carbon dioxide as
food and throw it off as a waste at the same time, but that does not
trouble them; they do not care whether they are consistent or not.
And it is true they take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen, and
take in oxygen (in the air) and give off carbon dioxide, in one breath
as it were.
You see, it is different parts of protoplasm at work that does this;
one part—that in the chlorophyll bodies—is attracting carbon
dioxide, breaking it up, and casting out oxygen. Other protoplasm in
the cells outside the chlorophyll bodies attracts and uses the oxygen,
while the carbon dioxide comes to the stomata from different parts of
the plant as a waste material, just as it comes to the cells of our lungs
to be cast out.
So plants, by breathing, make the air a little impure, but they
destroy or break up so much more carbon dioxide than they make
that on the whole they act as powerful purifiers of the air.
When we think of the great forests of the tropics, all overgrown
with luxuriant vegetation, we may remember that those tangles of
vines and trees and strange growths are our friends no less than the
grass and bushes in our dooryard.
For there is a carrier always at work bringing the pure air to us and
carrying away the impure air which we create. This carrier is the air
currents. The great winds sweep about the earth, bearing the oxygen
from the forests to the crowded cities, and sweeping away the carbon
dioxide from the cities to the fields and woods. The winds, too, stir
up the water where the water plants and fishes live, and help keep it
full of air for the things in it to breathe; the tides and currents help,
so as far down in the water as there are living things, you may be sure
there is air for them to breathe. There would not be air enough for
you, because you need so much; but for them there is plenty.
Swirling around the earth go the winds, carrying the oxygen to the
people and the carbon dioxide to the plants, for the plants are as glad
to get the carbon dioxide we breathe out as we are to get the oxygen
they give off.
And we are glad, when we come to think about it, that we are able
to give them something in return for all they give to us.
You see, we need each other,—plants and people, and the winds
are friends to us both.
WHAT ARE THE FLOWERS MADE OF?
I think flowers are “made of sugar and
spice and everything nice.” At least, if it is
not that, it is something very like it, as I
have good reason to believe.
What flowers and all other parts of the
plant are made of depends upon
protoplasm; and if protoplasm can make
sugar and spice and build up flowers that
way, we should like to know it.
We do know about sugar and how the
little green chlorophyll people run their
starch factories in all the green parts of the
plant,—under the skin of stems sometimes
as well as of leaves, for wherever a stem is
green, we may be sure chlorophyll is at
work making starch in it. And we know
how the protoplasm in the different cells
changes the starch into sugar.
We know, too, how wood and other
tough substances are made of starch.
But there is something else in plants as
important as starch and very different,—
the protoplasm. Protoplasm itself is not
made entirely of starch; it requires
materials not found in starch.
These materials are nitrogen, sulphur,
and phosphorus.
Nitrogen is the most important, and this
the plant gets chiefly through the roots.
Nitrogen is found in the earth combined with hydrogen and other
substances. The protoplasm tears to pieces these nitrogenous
substances which the roots suck up, and so enables the plant to take
the nitrogen.
The other two substances which the protoplasm needs, sulphur
and phosphorus, the plant gets partly from the air and partly from
the earth.
Sulphuric acid exists in very small quantities in the air and goes in
through the stomata, attracted, no doubt, by the protoplasm inside.
But other sulphurous and phosphorous compounds are taken up by
the roots.
So we see protoplasm is complicated. It contains carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorus united in a
very complicated way.
Although protoplasm itself is made only of carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorus, it can make use of a
great many other things. When the protoplasm of certain cells wants
to build hard, tough walls, it uses potash and soda or even silica,
which you know glass is made of. Just draw a blade of sedge grass
through your fingers if you want to feel the silica in it. You will
probably cut your fingers, but that will help make you remember
about silica. Then the protoplasm uses iron to color the petals and
other parts of the plant. It uses magnesia, too, and salt and lime and
a number of other materials for building walls or making dyes or
something else.
Every material in our own bodies is found in plants, and
sometimes the plants have materials that we do not have.
Of course materials are put together differently in plants from
what they are in us. When Mother Nature combines her carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, magnesia, iron,
and all the other things to make a plant, she does not go to work as
she would if she were going to make an animal.
Just what the difference is it would be difficult to tell, but there is a
difference.
Plants contain a good deal of sugar as a rule, and if you remember
cloves you will admit that at least some flowers are made of spice, for
cloves are the dried flower buds of the clove tree.
Cinnamon is the bark of a plant, and if you are acquainted with
orange trees you will be willing to say they are “made of sugar and
spice and everything nice,” for the whole tree, wood, bark, stems,
leaves, flowers, and fruit, is fragrant and spicy.
Oil is another common substance in plants, and it is made from
the materials of starch which, as we know, are carbon, hydrogen, and
oxygen; cotton-seed oil, olive oil, and castor oil we are all familiar
with.
All nuts contain a great deal of oil, and the skin of a fresh-picked
orange is so full of it that it runs down our fingers when we cut the
orange.
All the things in a plant—starch, sugar, oils, spices, wood, bark—
everything is made by the wonderful protoplasm in the cells.
Starch and the food taken up by the roots pass through all parts of
the plant by the sap tubes, and as the sap goes along, each living cell
draws into itself the substances from the sap that it needs, and these
it combines into the things it wants to make. Some of the cells in an
orange skin, for instance, attract out of the sap the materials to make
the fragrant, stinging oil that fills the fresh skin, while other cells
attract the materials to build the white cottony covering inside the
outer skin, and so the cells in each part of the plant take out what
they need to build with.
WHAT BECOMES OF THE FLOWERS?
Early in the spring the snowdrops and crocuses peep out, and then
they go away.
We do not think much about it, for other flowers have come in
their places.
Spring beauties and bloodroots shine in the woods, and then they
go away. But the mandrakes have come with their umbrella leaves,
and then the columbines and roses ask for a welcome.
After awhile we can find no more mandrakes and columbines, only
yellow apples and brown seed-pods.
Jack-
in-the-
Pulpit
jumps
up quite
early in
the
summer,
and then
we
cannot
find him,
only in
the late
summer
we sometimes come across little clusters of
bright red berries lying on the ground.
We would scarcely suspect them of having any relation to Jack, yet
they are his berries. But what has become of Jack?
In the autumn the rose leaves fall off, and there is left only red
stems and red berries.
The morning-glory vine wilts and turns black at the first frost; it
sinks to the ground and we see it no more, or else its stems linger
brown and hard for a time, but in the end it all disappears. What has
become of it?
And the nasturtiums—what a wreck the frost makes of them! The
leaves are wilted and black; the stems, too, are soft and lie flat on the
ground.
Why, you say, the frost has killed them. But that does not at all tell
what has become of them. Besides, the frost did not kill the
snowdrops and crocuses and blood roots and spring beauties nor
Jack-in-the-Pulpit nor the umbrella leaves of the mandrakes. Yet
they are all gone. All we can find of Jack and the mandrakes are red
berries and yellow apples. Not a sign of the snowdrops or spring
beauties or crocuses is left.
If you will just step down with me under the earth a few inches I
will show you something.
Make believe you are a gnome or a fairy and can see as well in the
dark earth as anywhere else and come along. Now look about.
Did you ever dream of anything so cunning in all your life?
Everywhere and everywhere old mother earth is packed full of little
white and brown bulbs.
There they are as snug as peas in a pod,
thousands of them, in every direction as far
as you can see.
And besides these bulbs, there are thick,
fleshy root stems, red and brown and
yellow, everywhere and everywhere. Do you
want to know who they are?
They are our little friends of the early
summer,—snowdrops and crocuses and
spring beauties and dogtooth violets;
mandrakes, too, and Jack-in-the-Pulpit.
These bulbs and thick roots are full of
plant food; and this is where the plant has
gone to. It has curled up, so to speak, in
these bulbs and roots and gone to sleep till next spring. Then it will
wake up. It will hardly wait for the snow to go off before it pushes out
a bud. The snowdrop does not wait, but sometimes blossoms right
under the snow. In a few days the woods that looked so dead and
bare are as gay as you please. That is because the plants sleeping in
the bulbs and thick underground stems have waked up. They have