NUMERACY ASSEMBLY
Sketch 1 Summary:
A girl in a hair salon is colouring a client's hair. The directions say to mix the dye colour in a
specific ratio. The colourist makes one of the typical misconception mistakes about ratios. She
applies the colour and when she whips off the foils the client's hair has turned bright red and the
other client’s hair has fallen out. The clients get mad. The colourist has a look of shock and then
they both "freeze". A student (or maths teacher) comes on and explains the mistakes made in the
simplest language possible. Ending with something like: THIS IS NUMERACY or NUMERACY IS
A LIFE SKILL or whatever our motto is.
Sketch 1
Client 1 (female): I would like to brighten up my colour a bit. I was thinking some deep red
tones or full head of highlights would improve my look. What do you think?
Colourist 1 (female): Brilliant idea. I can deepen the natural colour and then add a bit of
red to give your hair shine and interest. You will look like a fashion model!
Client 1 (male – maybe Steve): I want to attract the babes. Girls love guys with blond hair.
Can you make me a babe magnet?
Colourist 2 (female) : Of course I can! YOU can go platinum and I‟ll style it with some gel
and wax and you will have to fight the girls off!
Clients sit and read their magazines. Colourists go off to mix colour.
Colourist 1 (female): Have your ever used the red hair dye before?
Colorist 2 (female): No, have you ever dyed someone‟s hair platinum?
Colourist 1 (female): No, but let me see what the bottle says, “To achieve the right colour
combine the red, black and brown dye in the ratio 1:2:5.” What I don‟t know how to do
ratios?! I never listened to that lesson in maths. Do you know what these directions
mean?
Colorist 2 (female): Maybe the platinum dye is easier. Let me see, “To achieve the right
colour combine the white, yellow and silver dyes in the ratio 4:1:2. If mixing dye for short
hair, halve the amounts.” Whhhaaat?
Colourist 1 (female): Let‟s see. I think ratio has something to do with fractions. 1:2:5
probably means ½ and 2/5 and 1/5. So I‟ll use ½ a bottle of red, 2/5 a bottle of black and 1/5
a bottle of brown. She starts mixing. Hey, there is no 2/5‟s mark on this beaker. How much
is 2/5‟s? I don‟t know. I am sure it does not matter. I‟ll just go to this mark here ¼, it is
close to the numbers 2 and 5. Actually so is 1/5?? Oh well I‟ll just guess. She continues
mixing and goes off to the client. The dye is very red in colour.
Colorist 2 (female): Hhmm. 4:1:2 and halve if it is short hair. Well this guy has already got
really short hair so I need to half it. Half of 4 is 2. Half of 1 is Hhmm. Half of 1? What is
half of 1?? Oh yes, it is 0. So I don‟t need yellow. Half of 2 that is 1. Ok so I need 2 whites
and 1 silver. What do they mean? 2 cups, 2 tablespoons, 2 bottles? Probably bottles.
Here is the white bottle. (It is a very small bottle). Here is the silver bottle. (It is a large
bottle.) Ok I need two of these and one of those. She starts mixing. She continues mixing
and goes off to the client. The dye is very silver in colour.
Client 1 (female): That dye is very red. Are you sure it is the correct colour?
Colourist 1 (female): Of course, I have coloured hair loads of time. (She wipes a bead of
sweat from her brow.)
Client 1 (male – maybe Steve): Wow, will that silver potion turn my hair platinum?
Colourist 2 (female) : You bet it will, Sir!! (Forced smile by colourist).
Colourists get to work dying their clients‟ hair.
Client 1 is going to be getting a bright red wig on and Client 2 is going to have a flesh
coloured stocking put over his head to simulate all of his hair falling out. The hair should
then be wrapped in a towel. The Clients will sit up with the towel on their head and then the
colourist will slowly unwrap the towel while the client looks in the mirror.
Colourist 1 (female): Are you ready to see your new colour?
Colourist 2 (female) : Are you ready to see your new colour?
Client 1 and 2: I can‟t wait to see the new me!!!!
Towels are unwrapped. Shock and gasps by the client. A lot of comments like, “I am going
to sue, you ruined my hair, where is the supervisor, you should be fired…”
THEN EVERYONE FREEZES and the Math Guru arrives. He or she says, “This never would
have happened if these two young woman had learned their maths in secondary school.” Math
Guru explains quickly and simply the math’s mistakes – interpretation of ratio, how to use a beaker
when measuring, how to estimate 2/5 or 1/5’s and how the bottles had to be the same size.
Sketch 2:
Two students are planning on a trip in NYC. They are going to go into Abercrombie and Fitch on
Fifth Avenue and buy a special hoodie and skinny jeans. They know it costs $150. They are
trying to figure out how much money they need to earn by babysitting in order to purchase the
hoodie. They look up the exchange rate - GBP 1 = USD 1.60. They go through some incorrect
calculations and arrive in NYC with the wrong amount of money to buy the hoodie. The girls have
a look of shock and then they both "freeze". A student (or maths’ teacher) comes on and explains
the mistake made in the simplest language possible. Ending with something like: THIS IS
NUMERACY or NUMERACY IS A LIFE SKILL or whatever our motto is.
Student 1: I can‟t wait to go to New York City. Shopping, shopping, shopping!!!!
Everything is so much cheaper there.
Student 2: I want an Abercrombie hoody and a pair of their skinny jeans so badly. I have
gotten a babysitting job so I can earn the money to buy one!
Student 1: How much money do you need?
Student 2: I looked on the internet and it says $150.
Student 1: How many pounds is that?
Student 2: I don‟t know. Pounds are worth way more than dollars. I think if I can earn
about £50 that should be enough.
Student 1: Can‟t you look up the exchange rate? Let me check on google. It says $1.60 =
£1.
Student 2: $1.60 = £1. What does that mean? If I have £50, how many dollars will that be?
How do I figure it out? There is a decimal point in there. I do not know how to figure out
things with decimal points.
Student 1: I think that the $1 just equals the £1 so you just add the 60 to the 50 and you get
$110. So you probably need a little bit more than £50.
Student 2: Ok then I„ll try to earn £70.
One month later in NYC at the Abercrombie shop.
Student 1: Look at this hoodie!! Look at these jeans!! These are so cool!! Come on I want
to buy them straight away!!! I can‟t wait to wear them!!!
Cashier: Hello girls. I love your accents. Are you British?
Student 1: Yes we are!! You are so lucky to work in this shop!!
Cashier: Let me total up your items girls. That will be $150 plus sales tax of 5% which is
$7.50 so the total is $157.50.
Student 1: Can I pay in pounds?
Cashier: We get so many foreigners here, I can do the exchange rate conversion right
here. The exchange rate is $1.60 = £1. So $157.50 will be £98.44.
Student 1: What £98.44! I only brought £70.
Cashier: Sorry girls – Abercrombie does not offer discounts!
THEN EVERYONE FREEZES and the Math Guru arrives. He or she says, “This never would
have happened if these two young woman had learned their maths in secondary school.” Math
Guru explains quickly and simply the way to do a currency conversion.
Sketch 3:
Two girls are discussing the medal count for the Olympics. One of them says that the British are
so rubbish at sports- look how few medals they got compared to the Americans or the
Chinese. They continue on in this way complaining. A student comes in and "freezes" them and
explains that actually the British were better than any other country in the medals because if you
look at medals won compared to population, you will see Britain did far better than the USA or
China. Again she ends with the motto and perhaps mentions that you can understand the world
better if you understand maths.
Student 1 : Weren‟t the Olympics great? The UK did so well.
Student 2: What we were rubbish? We only got 65 medals in total. Look at the Chinese,
they got 88 medals and the Americans, they got 104 medals. They almost got double the
number we got.
Student 1: Oh, I guess your right. We suck.
THEN EVERYONE FREEZES and the Math Guru arrives. He or she says, “This
misunderstanding would never have happened if these two young woman had learned their maths
in secondary school.” Math Guru explains quickly and simply the maths mistakes. Although the
US and China earned more medals, if we compare these two counties in size to the UK, GB did
much better. The GB earned 65 medals with a population of 63 million. The USA earned 104
medals but with a population of 315 million. The USA is 5 times bigger but they did not earn 5
times as many medals; they earned only 1.6 times more medals. China has a population of 1.3
billion so they are 21 times bigger but only earned 1.4 times more medals so actually to GB did
amazingly in the Olympics!!
Sketch 4:
Two girls are choreographing dance routines for a competition. They have to use the same
music. One girl counts out the number of beats until the refrain and the number of beats in the
refrain so that her piece will work well with the music. The other girl ignores the number of beats
and just designs what she likes. The first piece wins because it fits the music much better. The
girls have a look of shock/joy and then they both "freeze". A student or maths teacher comes on
and explains the mistake made in the simplest language possible. Ending with something like:
THIS IS NUMERACY or NUMERACY IS A LIFE SKILL or whatever our motto is. (Will ask Miss
Lowe to help us with this sketch).
Both girls on stage at two separate ends. Music is playing. Not much dialog more watching them
each move through their routines and talking to themselves.
Student 1: She listens to her music and counts out the beats in the main part and then in
the refrain. She begins to choreograph her routine thinking about how the refrain will be a
repeated motif in her performance.
Student 2: She just makes up her dance with no real planning.
Judge enters. Competition starts. Each girl performs. Student 1‟s piece wins. Judge
announces winner and explains why.
THEN EVERYONE FREEZES and the Math Guru arrives. He or she says, “Numeracy shows up
in all sorts of places. A good understanding of numeracy can help you perform better in music,
dance and the arts. Dance contains patterns and sequences just like the ones we learn in maths.
Paintings are often pleasing to look at because their composition is based on the golden rule of
proportion which was discovered by mathematicians (perhaps show a few whiteboard slides).
Even plastic surgeons use the principles of mathematics when re-sculpting a person’s face or
body. The buildings we live and go to school in stay up due to mathematical calculations. Maths is
everywhere – so make sure you understand it!