Okay. I’m into this election thing, as you know. So, I’ve been doin’ some GED research to figure out how math from the GED test can fit in with the elections. My big question is, how come we need these primaries? How come we gotta have two candidates, and not let a bunch of people run? And how can I get some GED practice while thinkin’ about these things?
continue reading "Finding GED Math in the Elections…"

Hey. Everyone’s all up on this New Year’s GED stuff, get your GED for the new year, and all that. I say, get your GED. Nuff said. New year, no new year, jus’ sit down and do it. All you got to do is study, an’ that GED is yours. Right?
continue reading "GED Practice Question: Election Math"

We’re all watchin’ the election campaign on the news, right? I mean, those guys are all over the place. So, here’s where I’m gettin’ my numbers on who’s ahead. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/

My question was, how to they figure the average?
continue reading "GED Math for the Election Year"

Yo. So, part of GED math is knowing how to understand data, right? What do you make of all the data we hear about elections? Yeah, that’s right, election year’s almost here, and all the candidates are yappin’ on the airwaves and tryin’ to put the best spin on their election. You know how it go!
continue reading "GED Math in Elections?"

Hey. I’ve been looking for ways to mix up GED preparation with real life… and last time I talked about how you can look up information about different jobs on http://www.bls.gov/oco/. I looked up the information about being a mechanic. And it kept talking about “median.”
continue reading "GED Math in Real Life… Mean? Median?"

Y’all know I do some auto work, right? Well, I started wonderin’ if I was really making the money I ought to make. So I went to this website that tells all about different jobs: http://www.bls.gov/oco/

I looked up mechanics, and here’s what it said:

Median hourly earnings of automotive service technicians and mechanics, including commission, were $15.60 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $11.31 and $20.75 per hour. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $8.70, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $26.22 per hour. Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of service technicians in May 2004 were as follows:

Local government…..$38,160
Automobile dealers…..38,060
Automotive repair and maintenance…..28,810
Gasoline stations…..28,030
Automotive parts, accessories, and tire stores…..27,180

Well, the first thing I see is that mechanics make like $10,000 bucks more working for auto dealers! Man, I gotta look into that!

But then, I started seeing that everything said “median.” What’s that mean? Why’re they using “median”? Do they mean average? I’m going to look it up… see what it means and see if I can figure out why they use that. Gimme a holler in a comment if you have any ideas!