Mathemathics PROBLEM SOLVING – GRADE 9 - 11 These questions can be adapted to suit younger learners 54% of people convicted of violent crimes had used alcohol before they committed their offence. If 900,000 people were arrested for violent crimes, how many had used alcohol before they were arrested? Thirty percent of all suicides could be at least partly caused by alcohol abuse. If 20,000 people commit suicide, how many of these suicides were directly or indirectly caused by alcohol use? Heroin addicts may have to steal items worth three times the cost of a daily drug habit. (This is because they get so little money for re-selling stolen goods.) If a person has a R200.00 a day heroin habit, how much would s/he have to steal in one day to cover his/her addiction? How much for one week? Each year there are about 500 000 drug related arrests. At this rate, how many total drug related arrests will we have in seven years? In 15 years? Half (50%) of all motor accident deaths have been attributed to alcohol abuse. If there are 34,000 such deaths in one year, how many of these can be attributed to alcohol abuse? Approximately R32 billion is spent on drug-related law enforcement a year. Drug users spend R450 billion collectively per year to buy illegal drugs. If no-one purchased illegal drugs for one year, and no money was spent on law enforcement in this regard, how much money would be left to used for constructive purposes? (Please note: the above statistics are in no way accurate and are used solely for the purpose of this exercise.) ANSWERS: 486 000 people. 6 000 suicides R200; R1 400 3 500 000 arrests/ and 500 000 arrests 17 000 accidents R32 billion