Another feeling old thread - pre-decimal currency

[simon.r]

I dunno but, in the days before mixing with all the clever guys (gender neutral ) on CycleChat, I was known to play darts with the less obviously gifted.
They were brilliant at addition, subtraction and the more complex issues around working out a 'finish' sequence.
I think we, and they, learned what we needed to do which was easier for a practical reason than learning for an abstract exercise.

When I worked "on the tools" in the early 80's there were guys (not gender neutral in that industry at that time) who were, to all intents and purposes, illiterate. But, they could work out the return on a yankee when one horse had come 2nd at 3 to 2 and another had won at 4 to 5 on, within seconds!

 

[youngoldbloke]

Remember we didn't have pocket calculators, or tills that told you how much change to give, bar code readers, or debit cards. It was all much more hands on, and there was a greater need for mental arithmetic, and a lot more opportunity to practice it. Compare with current experience, when items are scanned, and the till does it all. Neither the customer or the check-out person has any need of arithmetic. I always check through my till receipts - but suspect I'm in a tiny minority.