Jeneanne Hultzer gave this presentation entitled Excel in Maths Literacy at the Microsoft TeachMeet in Johannesburg, October 2011

1. Excel in Maths Lit
Jeneanne Hultzer
Brescia House School
• Break – even analysis with Grade 11’s
• Doesn’t take as long to plot the graphs and so I can
spend more time discussing and looking at changes:
What if she charges more?
What if her fixed costs increase? Etc.
• I’ve learnt to put Excel links into my whiteboard
slides so that I can set up tables and graphs and then
just look at the effects of the change.
• Need access to computers for the whole class – they
don’t remember if they just watch – they must do!

2. You buy a small franchise that sells iPods at your local
flea market on Sundays. The franchise cost you R1000
per month up front and you pay R50 per Sunday to
trade at the flea market. Each iPod cost you R800 and
you plan to sell them for R1200 each.
a) Use this information to set up a break-even analysis
for one month of trading (4 Sundays). Find the
break-even point and discuss what it means business
wise. (11)
b) You expect to sell at least 2 iPods each Sunday. If
these expectations are met, what would your profit
be? (3)
c) If you sold 15 iPods in your first month of trading,
what would your profit be? (3)

3. d) Two months later, costs have risen steeply
due to an increase in inflation. The cost of your
franchise has now been increased to R4000 per
month, and each iPod will cost you R1000. You
now need to pay R125 per Sunday to trade at
the flea market. You know that your
competitors intend to sell similar iPods for
R1490 each, so you decide to charge R1450 per
iPod. Is this still a valid business proposition?
Show the analysis on a new graph and explain
your answer. (13)
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