LCA Mathematical Applications

Explore the Course

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Through a real project the class chooses together (decorating a room, building a set, designing a playground, building a model), students learn to represent authentic planning decisions with mathematics. They measure spaces, produce scaled drawings, research suppliers, build a project budget, and make justified value-for-money recommendations. Every lesson banks an artifact toward the MA1 Key Assignment portfolio.

Researching and Planning
Welcome to MA1: Pick the Project and Set up the Portfolio
What Does Plan Mean in Maths?
Measuring the Space (1): Length, Perimeter, Area
Measuring the Space (2): Combined Shapes
Scaled Drawings (1): Reading a Scale
Scaled Drawings (2): Drawing Your Space
What Is Market Research in Maths?
Sources of Data: Catalogues, Websites, Brochures, Quotes
Gathering the Data (1): Pricing and Specifications
Reading Tables and Charts
Unit Pricing and Volume Discounts
Comparing Suppliers
Surveys: Sampling Preferences
Presenting Findings: First Conclusions
Budgeting
What Is a Budget?
Building the Project Budget (1): Line Items
Building the Project Budget (2): Categories, Totals, and Accuracy
Spreadsheet Vs Paper Budget
Ratio, Proportion, and Scaling the Budget
Value for Money: Making the Call
Deeper Mathematical Skills in Planning
Scaled Drawings (3): Final Plan at Scale
Volume, Nets, and 3D Thinking
Angles and Pythagoras in Planning
Linear Relationships in Budgeting
Key Assignment Workshop and Exam Prep
KA Workshop (1): Finding Out
KA Workshop (2): Collecting, Comparing, Calculating
KA Workshop (3): Interpretation and Making Judgements
Writing the Project Report (Communicating, Part 1)
Finalising the Report (Communicating, Part 2) and KA Submission
Module Exam Prep: Planning Problems in Context

Through current-affairs and event-planning contexts, students learn to design and run a survey, present data in charts and tables, critique misleading statistics, read timetables, calculate journey times, convert currencies, and build an itinerary with costs. The statistical-investigation strand of MCS.5 lives most strongly in this module.

Current Affairs
Welcome to MA2: Pick the Current Affairs Context
Spotting Maths in a News Story
Designing a Statistical Question
Designing the Survey (1): Questions and Options
Designing the Survey (2): Sampling
Running the Survey
Tallying and Tabulating
Bar Charts and Pie Charts
Trend Graphs and Histograms
Summary Statistics: Mean, Median, Mode, Range
Choosing the Right Chart
Misleading Statistics
Interpreting Voting Data
Writing up the Investigation
Travel and Recreation
Picking the Event
Reading Timetables
Speed, Distance, Time
Exchange Rates and Foreign Currency
Comparing Package Vs DIY
Insurance and Risk
Deeper Mathematical Skills: Itinerary, Budget, and Linear Costs
Building the Itinerary (1)
Building the Itinerary (2): Costs and Timings
Budgeting the Event
Linear Relationships in Event Costs
Key Assignment Workshop and Exam Prep
KA Workshop (1): Finding Out
KA Workshop (2): Collecting, Comparing, Calculating
KA Workshop (3): Interpretation and Judgements
Communicating (1): Charts, Tables, and Visual Summary
Communicating (2): Written Report and KA Submission
Module Exam Prep: World Around Me Problems

Through personal-finance and healthy-lifestyle contexts, students learn to build a personal budget anchored to a real goal, read bills and financial products, investigate big financial commitments, and apply simple health and fitness formulae. The most individual of the four modules: students choose contexts close to their own life.

Personal Finance
Welcome to MA3: Where Does Your Money Go?
Building Your Personal Budget (1): Income
Building Your Personal Budget (2): Fixed Expenses
Building Your Personal Budget (3): Variable Expenses
Personal Budget Balance and Saving Toward the Goal
Reading a Bill: Electricity
Comparing Financial Products
Big Commitments: Renting Vs Living at Home
Big Commitments: Buying a Car
Big Commitments: Phone Upgrade
Healthy Life Choices
Switching to Healthy Life Choices
Tracking Steps and Activity
Training Plans and Couch-to-5k
Simple Health Formulae
Nutrition Labels and Ratios
Reading Nutrition Charts
Scaled Diagrams of Spaces
Cost of a Healthy Choice
Comparing Healthy Options
Communicating Health Data with a Chart
Deeper Mathematical Skills: APR, HP/PCP, Heart Zones, and Progress Graphs
APR and the Cost of Borrowing
Hire Purchase Vs PCP
Heart-rate Zones and Training Intensity
Tracking a Goal with a Graph
Key Assignment Workshop and Exam Prep
KA Workshop (1): Finding Out
KA Workshop (2): Collecting, Comparing, Calculating
KA Workshop (3): Interpretation and Judgements
Communicating (1): Chart and One-page Summary
Communicating (2): Written Report and KA Submission
Module Exam Prep: Life-skills Problems

Through work-related contexts (job estimate, payslip analysis, contract comparison, start-up cash flow), students learn to read and interpret payslips and tax deductions, build a customer-facing estimate including labour, materials, overheads, VAT, and margin, and compare two job offers or contracts. The module sits directly on top of Vocational Preparation and Vocational Specialism work.

Income, Expenditure, and the Payslip
Welcome to MA4: Pick the Work Context
Income and Expenditure: the Business View
Hourly Rates and Basic Pay
Overtime and Premium Rates
Reading a Payslip (1)
Reading a Payslip (2): PAYE, PRSI, USC
Tax Credits and Net Pay
Holiday Pay and Paid Leave
Analysing a Pay Trend
Communicating Pay Information
Estimating a Job
What Goes Into an Estimate?
Costing Materials
Costing Labour
Overheads: the Hidden Costs
Profit Margin: Markup Vs Margin
VAT and the Final Price
Comparing Two Estimates
Working Backwards: What Must I Charge?
Cash Flow: Why Profitable Jobs Still Fail
Writing the Estimate Document
Contracts and Linear Relationships in Work
Reading an Employment Contract
Comparing Two Job Offers
Self-employed Vs Employed
Linear Relationships in Work Income
Key Assignment Workshop and Full-course Exam Prep
KA Workshop (1): Finding Out
KA Workshop (2): Collecting, Comparing, Calculating
KA Workshop (3): Interpretation and Judgements
Communicating (1): Customer-facing Document
Communicating (2): Written Report and KA Submission
Full-course Exam Prep

Through a real project the class chooses together (decorating a room, building a set, designing a playground, building a model), students learn to represent authentic planning decisions with mathematics. They measure spaces, produce scaled drawings, research suppliers, build a project budget, and make justified value-for-money recommendations. Every lesson banks an artifact toward the MA1 Key Assignment portfolio.

Researching and Planning
Welcome to MA1: Pick the Project and Set up the Portfolio
What Does Plan Mean in Maths?
Measuring the Space (1): Length, Perimeter, Area
Measuring the Space (2): Combined Shapes
Scaled Drawings (1): Reading a Scale
Scaled Drawings (2): Drawing Your Space
What Is Market Research in Maths?
Sources of Data: Catalogues, Websites, Brochures, Quotes
Gathering the Data (1): Pricing and Specifications
Reading Tables and Charts
Unit Pricing and Volume Discounts
Comparing Suppliers
Surveys: Sampling Preferences
Presenting Findings: First Conclusions
Budgeting
What Is a Budget?
Building the Project Budget (1): Line Items
Building the Project Budget (2): Categories, Totals, and Accuracy
Spreadsheet Vs Paper Budget
Ratio, Proportion, and Scaling the Budget
Value for Money: Making the Call
Deeper Mathematical Skills in Planning
Scaled Drawings (3): Final Plan at Scale
Volume, Nets, and 3D Thinking
Angles and Pythagoras in Planning
Linear Relationships in Budgeting
Key Assignment Workshop and Exam Prep
KA Workshop (1): Finding Out
KA Workshop (2): Collecting, Comparing, Calculating
KA Workshop (3): Interpretation and Making Judgements
Writing the Project Report (Communicating, Part 1)
Finalising the Report (Communicating, Part 2) and KA Submission
Module Exam Prep: Planning Problems in Context

Through current-affairs and event-planning contexts, students learn to design and run a survey, present data in charts and tables, critique misleading statistics, read timetables, calculate journey times, convert currencies, and build an itinerary with costs. The statistical-investigation strand of MCS.5 lives most strongly in this module.

Current Affairs
Welcome to MA2: Pick the Current Affairs Context
Spotting Maths in a News Story
Designing a Statistical Question
Designing the Survey (1): Questions and Options
Designing the Survey (2): Sampling
Running the Survey
Tallying and Tabulating
Bar Charts and Pie Charts
Trend Graphs and Histograms
Summary Statistics: Mean, Median, Mode, Range
Choosing the Right Chart
Misleading Statistics
Interpreting Voting Data
Writing up the Investigation
Travel and Recreation
Picking the Event
Reading Timetables
Speed, Distance, Time
Exchange Rates and Foreign Currency
Comparing Package Vs DIY
Insurance and Risk
Deeper Mathematical Skills: Itinerary, Budget, and Linear Costs
Building the Itinerary (1)
Building the Itinerary (2): Costs and Timings
Budgeting the Event
Linear Relationships in Event Costs
Key Assignment Workshop and Exam Prep
KA Workshop (1): Finding Out
KA Workshop (2): Collecting, Comparing, Calculating
KA Workshop (3): Interpretation and Judgements
Communicating (1): Charts, Tables, and Visual Summary
Communicating (2): Written Report and KA Submission
Module Exam Prep: World Around Me Problems

Through personal-finance and healthy-lifestyle contexts, students learn to build a personal budget anchored to a real goal, read bills and financial products, investigate big financial commitments, and apply simple health and fitness formulae. The most individual of the four modules: students choose contexts close to their own life.

Personal Finance
Welcome to MA3: Where Does Your Money Go?
Building Your Personal Budget (1): Income
Building Your Personal Budget (2): Fixed Expenses
Building Your Personal Budget (3): Variable Expenses
Personal Budget Balance and Saving Toward the Goal
Reading a Bill: Electricity
Comparing Financial Products
Big Commitments: Renting Vs Living at Home
Big Commitments: Buying a Car
Big Commitments: Phone Upgrade
Healthy Life Choices
Switching to Healthy Life Choices
Tracking Steps and Activity
Training Plans and Couch-to-5k
Simple Health Formulae
Nutrition Labels and Ratios
Reading Nutrition Charts
Scaled Diagrams of Spaces
Cost of a Healthy Choice
Comparing Healthy Options
Communicating Health Data with a Chart
Deeper Mathematical Skills: APR, HP/PCP, Heart Zones, and Progress Graphs
APR and the Cost of Borrowing
Hire Purchase Vs PCP
Heart-rate Zones and Training Intensity
Tracking a Goal with a Graph
Key Assignment Workshop and Exam Prep
KA Workshop (1): Finding Out
KA Workshop (2): Collecting, Comparing, Calculating
KA Workshop (3): Interpretation and Judgements
Communicating (1): Chart and One-page Summary
Communicating (2): Written Report and KA Submission
Module Exam Prep: Life-skills Problems

Through work-related contexts (job estimate, payslip analysis, contract comparison, start-up cash flow), students learn to read and interpret payslips and tax deductions, build a customer-facing estimate including labour, materials, overheads, VAT, and margin, and compare two job offers or contracts. The module sits directly on top of Vocational Preparation and Vocational Specialism work.

Income, Expenditure, and the Payslip
Welcome to MA4: Pick the Work Context
Income and Expenditure: the Business View
Hourly Rates and Basic Pay
Overtime and Premium Rates
Reading a Payslip (1)
Reading a Payslip (2): PAYE, PRSI, USC
Tax Credits and Net Pay
Holiday Pay and Paid Leave
Analysing a Pay Trend
Communicating Pay Information
Estimating a Job
What Goes Into an Estimate?
Costing Materials
Costing Labour
Overheads: the Hidden Costs
Profit Margin: Markup Vs Margin
VAT and the Final Price
Comparing Two Estimates
Working Backwards: What Must I Charge?
Cash Flow: Why Profitable Jobs Still Fail
Writing the Estimate Document
Contracts and Linear Relationships in Work
Reading an Employment Contract
Comparing Two Job Offers
Self-employed Vs Employed
Linear Relationships in Work Income
Key Assignment Workshop and Full-course Exam Prep
KA Workshop (1): Finding Out
KA Workshop (2): Collecting, Comparing, Calculating
KA Workshop (3): Interpretation and Judgements
Communicating (1): Customer-facing Document
Communicating (2): Written Report and KA Submission
Full-course Exam Prep

Curriculum Mapping

See exactly how this course maps to official curriculum specifications

LCA - Mathematical Applications Module Descriptor

Curriculum Area

Outcomes

Module 1: Mathematics and Planning

Unit 1: Researching and planning

M1.U1.1 M1.U1.2 M1.U1.3

Unit 2: Budgeting

M1.U2.1 M1.U2.2 M1.U2.3 M1.U2.4

Module 2: Mathematics and the World Around Me

Unit 1: Current Affairs

M2.U1.1 M2.U1.2 M2.U1.3

Unit 2: Travel and Recreation

M2.U2.1 M2.U2.2 M2.U2.3 M2.U2.4

Module 3: Mathematics and Life Skills

Unit 1: Personal Finance

M3.U1.1 M3.U1.2 M3.U1.3 M3.U1.4

Unit 2: Healthy Life Choices

M3.U2.1 M3.U2.2 M3.U2.3 M3.U2.4 M3.U2.5

Module 4: Mathematics and Work

M4.U1.1 M4.U1.2 M4.U1.3 M4.U1.4

The curriculum does not include official reference codes for individual learning outcomes, so we have assigned a code scheme to make it easier to identify and track coverage.

What Students Will Learn

Learning Goals

Apply mathematical concepts to plan, measure, and budget real-world projects effectively.
Collect, analyse, and interpret data from diverse sources to inform decisions in everyday contexts.
Develop financial literacy through budgeting, cost comparisons, and understanding income and expenditure.
Utilise statistical tools and visual representations to investigate current affairs and personal health choices.
Evaluate employment and business scenarios using calculations for pay, estimates, and contracts.

Learning Outcomes

Apply measurement techniques to calculate perimeters and areas of project spaces, including irregular shapes, and produce accurate scaled drawings at a specified ratio.
Conduct market research by gathering, recording, and comparing data from multiple sources to evaluate suppliers and inform project decisions.
Construct detailed budgets for projects and events, incorporating line items, categories, contingencies, and adjustments using spreadsheets and proportional scaling.
Design, administer, and analyse surveys to derive statistical insights, including summary measures and appropriate graphical representations, while identifying potential biases.
Evaluate personal finance and work-related scenarios by interpreting payslips, bills, contracts, and estimates to make justified recommendations on income, expenditure, and healthy lifestyle choices.

What You'll Need

Student Devices

Students will need one of these devices. Students can share in groups of 2-3 if necessary.

Chromebook/Laptop/PC

iPad/Tablet

Required Equipment

Equipment used in some of the lessons in this course. Items can be shared among students.

Maths copybook

Explore the Course

1 MA1: Mathematics and Planning 30 lessons

2 MA2: Mathematics and the World Around Me 30 lessons

3 MA3: Mathematics and Life Skills 30 lessons

4 MA4: Mathematics and Work 30 lessons