Numeracy Assistance for Upcoming Interview

[squareflops]

Good morning/afternoon/night,

I have an upcoming interview for a contractor in financial services next Wednesday 20th April. As part of the process there's a numeracy and literacy test. Literacy I'm more than comfortable with; I have a problem however.

Having gone through some online tests (fractions/percentages etc) today, it seems that I am frankly appalling at mathematics. I'm 31 and in my daily work it's never a factor (training & development in FS)

The interview is apparently quite informal and all told should last around an hour including the two tests. It's a job I dearly want but I'd hate to lose it having failed the numeracy test.

For those who have done the same test recently (ex colleagues who now work at the proposed company) have mentioned it focuses on extracting data from graphs and isn't too taxing - they've mentioned I'm worrying unnecessarily but I'd rather be adequately/over prepared.

What I'm after ideally is some example questions that are commonly asked during interviews or any resource material that someone knows to be useful in these situations.

Maths has always scared me tbh and it seems my brain is in no way inclined to help me in this process. I'm confronting something of a demon but it wont do to put my head in the sand.

Any specific advice/reference material/example questions would be greatly appreciated and thank you for your time in advance; it is much appreciated.

I need to understand why I'm getting questions right/wrong so coming back on having completed an exercise and discussing would be ideal.

I'm probably going to miss the rugby tomorrow so I'm not hungover or suffering adverse effects on Wednesday, a shame but this could be most important interview of my life so really want to be fully prepared.

/ramble

[squareflops]

3. x and y are positive integers and x is less than y. If x2 + y2 equals two times 5 and xy equals two times 2. X/Y will equal.

(a) 1/2

(b) 1/√2

(c) 1

(d) 2

(e) 3/2



Anyway...

[GuinnessMK]

I feel for you.

Just done an online assessment for numerical and verbal reasoning as part of an interview process.

I did loads of sample or practices on loads of websites, to the point where I can get 100% on the numeric ones, but never more than 50-60% on the verbal ones.

Practice certainly helped me.

[ninja-lewis]

http://www.wikijob.co.uk/wiki/numerical-reasoning

http://www.wikijob.co.uk/wiki/how-pass-shl-tests

Often you're not expected to answer all the questions in the time given. Negative marking may reward accuracy and punish guessing.

[bigandclever]

squareflops said:

I have an upcoming interview for a contractor in financial services next Wednesday 20th April.

For starters, the 20th April 2013 is a Saturday, not a Wednesday. And presumably you mean 'for a contract' not 'for a contractor.

HTH.

[squareflops]

bigandclever said:

squareflops said:

I have an upcoming interview for a contractor in financial services next Wednesday 20th April.

For starters, the 20th April 2013 is a Saturday, not a Wednesday. And presumably you mean 'for a contract' not 'for a contractor.

HTH.

Darn, March not April..

The company is contracted by a banking group to handle projects. A contract/contractor; at least one of them is correct

[squareflops]

thanks ninja - that'll keep me busy for a while

[tank slapper]

squareflops said:

3. x and y are positive integers and x is less than y. If x2 + y2 equals two times 5 and xy equals two times 2. X/Y will equal.

(a) 1/2

(b) 1/√2

(c) 1

(d) 2

(e) 3/2



Anyway...

You need to a be familiar with algebra to answer this question. If you aren't comfortable with it then it's probably better to spend the time on other questions and come back to it if you want to have a go.

The answer to the question above is a. Typing maths is tedious, so unless you particularly want to know how to solve it I won't type it out. If you want to learn how to do that type of question though, it is a pair of non-linear simultaneous equations. Searching for that will give you a load of resources that should help. There are lots of videos on youtube that can help with this type of problem.

[squareflops]

ok thanks ts. I think the link by ninja has referenced exactly the type of questions described by others.

http://www.practiceaptitudetests.com/numerical-rea...

and by jove.. this I will need to practice

[RichB]

tank slapper said:

The answer to the question above is a. Typing maths is tedious,

ok I'll bite! I thought the integers must be 1 and 3. Squared and added they equal 10. But then it would not be xy=4 but x+y and the answer would be 1/3 not 1/2. How do you arrive at 1/2?

[tank slapper]

RichB said:

k I'll bite! I thought the integers must be 1 and 3. Squared and added they equal 10. But then it would not be xy=4 but x+y and the answer would be 1/3 not 1/2. How do you arrive at 1/2?

Here is how you do it algebraically - there might be a quicker way I haven't spotted that doesn't require finding the exact solutions. Hopefully you can understand this without having to do it in an equation editor.

We are given:

(1) x^2 + y^2 = 10
(2) xy = 4

Rearrange (2) as y = 4/x and substitute into (1) giving:

x^2 + (4/x)^2 = 10

x^2 + 16/x^2 = 10

finding the lowest common denominator as x^2, gives:

(x^4 +16) / x^2 =10

multiply by x^2

x^4 +16 = 10x^2 which can be rearranged as

x^4 - 10x^2 + 16 = 0

factorising this gives

(x^2 - 8)(x^2 - 2) = 0

so we have x^2 = 8 and x^2 = 2 giving 4 possible solutions for x.

2√2, -2√2, √2 and -√2

We can discard -2√2 and -√2 since we are told in the question that x is positive.

Substituting these values into equation (2) gives:

y = 4/x

y = 4/2√2 = √2 and y = 4/√2 = 2√2

We are also told that x < y so the required values of x and y are (√2, 2√2).

So x/y = √2/2√2 = 1/2

[dcb]

tank slapper said:

Here is how you do it algebraically - there might be a quicker way I haven't spotted that doesn't require finding the exact solutions.

We are given:

(1) x^2 + y^2 = 10
(2) xy = 4

This can also be solved graphically. #1 is a circle. #2 is a curve.

Draw them both and find out where they cross.

They can also be solved numerically. The graphics will give you
sensible starting values.

[RichB]

Tankslapped... We are told that x and y are integers yet in your solution you say x is the sq root of 2 which is 1.414 so what am I missing?

P.s. I follow your logic and agree on that basis the answer is 1/2 but I'm puzzled by the integer bit of the question?

Edited by RichB on Friday 15th March 23:05

[tank slapper]

RichB said:

Tankslapped... We are told that x and y are integers yet in your solution you say x is the sq root of 2 which is 1.414 so what am I missing?

Heh, teach me to read the question properly.

In that case, the assumption that x2 and y2 mean x^2 and y^2 has to be wrong.

If it should be 2x and 2y, then we get the solution x=1 y=4, but 1/4 is not among the possible answers. We need to OP to clarify what the question actually says.

[at206]

squareflops said:

3. x and y are positive integers and x is less than y. If x2 + y2 equals two times 5 and xy equals two times 2. X/Y will equal.

(a) 1/2

(b) 1/√2

(c) 1

(d) 2

(e) 3/2

You only need to look at the first part of the question to get the correct answer (a).

In answer b, y is not an integer and in answers c,d and e, x is equal or greater than y.

Edited by at206 on Saturday 16th March 01:08

[tank slapper]

at206 said:

You only need to look at the first part of the question to get the correct answer (a).

In answer b, y is not an integer and in answers c,d and e, x is equal or greater than y.

I like the approach, but unfortunately it doesn't work.

We aren't sure what the x2 y2 expression should be, but we have enough without that to test the answers for consistency.

We need x and y to be positive integers.
x must be less than y.
x*y = 4
x/y = one of the listed answers.

None of the answers listed meets all those requirements.

1/2 requires (√2,2√2) - not integers
1/√2 requires ~ (1.68,2.38) - not integers
1 requires (2,2) which meets the requirement for integers, but x is not less than y.
2 requires (2√2,√2) - not integers, and x > y
3/2 requires (√6, 2√(2/3)) - not integers and x > y

There is a problem with the question as written.

[RichB]

Glad it wasn't just me that thought this.

[squareflops]

me either

[at206]

tank slapper said:

I like the approach, but unfortunately it doesn't work.

We aren't sure what the x2 y2 expression should be, but we have enough without that to test the answers for consistency.

We need x and y to be positive integers.
x must be less than y.
x*y = 4
x/y = one of the listed answers.

None of the answers listed meets all those requirements.

1/2 requires (√2,2√2) - not integers
1/√2 requires ~ (1.68,2.38) - not integers
1 requires (2,2) which meets the requirement for integers, but x is not less than y.
2 requires (2√2,√2) - not integers, and x > y
3/2 requires (√6, 2√(2/3)) - not integers and x > y

There is a problem with the question as written.

I agree that the question is written wrong and that 1/2 doesn't fit the following equation. However I guess the point I'm trying to make is that when you do these type of maths tests, try and take the simplest approach possible as you are very time restricted. I didn't even bother looking at the equation when I first looked at this question, as the first sentence eliminated all but a. Even if it didn't eliminate all the answers, it still would put you in a better position to answer the next part of the question, or help you make an educated guess if you start panicking.

Anyway, these sort of maths problems get easier after a bit of practicing, so do a few practice tests beforehand and you'll be fine!

[squareflops]

well small update.

Confirmed I passed the intverview and assessment. The numeracy test itself was quite simplistic, test consisted of reviewing graphical info but the data was easy to interpret; the were no calculators allowed but the sums were possible with mental arithmetic or pen and paper.

For the last week I have been working on adding fractions, more complex percentage equations etc but they weren't really needed.

huraay whoop etc..