Remember: Inflation is prices drifting up over time. The jar keeps every coin, but each coin buys less.
Read and answer
Read the story first, then answer.
Mia and the basket"When I was ten, a loaf cost one coin," says Gran, "but now it costs three. Prices keep creeping up, little by little." In Brindle market, Mia and Gran use a trick to measure prices. They pick the same few goods and see what they cost together. Their basket holds a loaf, milk, cheese and two apples. In year one they cost three, three, two and two coins, so the whole basket costs ten coins. Mia keeps sixty coins in a jar. In year two milk and cheese cost a coin more, so the basket costs twelve coins. In year three the basket costs fifteen coins. Mia's jar never loses a coin, but each coin buys less. A general rise in prices over time is called inflation. Prices creep up for many reasons: a farmer pays more for seed, and the shop pays more too, so each step adds a coin. Real inflation is much slower than this story, a few coins in a hundred. The story makes it big so it is easy to see.
1
Look at the tape. In year one Mia's basket costs 3 + 3 + 2 + 2 = coins.
2
Mia keeps 60 coins in a jar. A year-one basket costs 10 coins, so the jar buys baskets.
3
In year two milk and cheese each cost 1 coin more. What does the basket cost now?
2 coins11 coins12 coins
4
Fill in the table. In year three the basket costs 15 coins, so 60 coins buy baskets.
5
In real life, prices usually rise only a few coins in a hundred, much slower than in Mia's story.
TrueFalse
Baskets, prices and buying power
6
Number the story of Mia's jar in order.
Milk and cheese cost a coin more
The basket costs fifteen coins, and sixty buys four
The same sixty coins buy five baskets
Sixty coins buy six baskets
7
Join each word to what it means.
1Inflation
2Basket
3Buying power
4A sale
Athe same goods priced together
Bmost prices drifting up over time
Cone price dipping
Dwhat your coins can buy
8
Look at the graph. At 30 coins a basket, 60 coins would buy baskets.
9
Mia's pay rises from 60 coins to 75 coins. A basket costs 15 coins. How many baskets can she buy?
6 baskets4 baskets5 baskets
10
If pay grows as fast as prices, what happens to buying power?
It holdsIt shrinksIt disappears
Fix it and think
11
Mia says: inflation means every price rises by the same amount. Is Mia right?
YesNo
12
From year one to year three the basket goes from 10 coins to 15 coins. Mia's jar now buys fewer baskets.
13
Ask a grown-up what a thing cost when they were your age. Write what it costs now.
14
Draw Mia's jar and the baskets that 60 coins buy in year three.
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Answer key · Set A
Inflation: the same coins buy less
110 3 + 3 = 6, 6 + 2 = 8, and 8 + 2 = 10 coins.
26 60 ÷ 10 = 6 baskets.
312 coins Two things rose by a coin each, so the basket costs 10 + 1 + 1 = 12 coins.