Glencoe Keyboarding with Computer Applications

MATH CONNECTION: Convert Currencies

Introduction
Learn about the symbols of international currencies and compare their values to the American dollar.

Directions
Read the information below and apply what you learn to answer the questions. Write your answers on a separate piece of paper, or key them into the spaces below.

Understand Exchange Rates
When you travel to different countries, you usually have to change your American dollars into the local currency. One dollar is usually not equal to one unit of the local currency. For example, $1.00 (US dollar, or USD) equals approximately £ 0.6 ( Great Britain pounds, or GBP) or ¥115 (Japanese yen, or JPY).

Exchange Rates The value of the dollar (or any currency) compared to the value of another country's currency is called the exchange rate. The exchange rate for international currencies changes from day to day depending on a variety of economic factors.

To see how much a service or an item costs in a foreign currency, go online to an international currency site such as www.xe.com. On the site, you can click the link to an up-to-date exchange rate converter table, or the automatic Currency Converter, which lets you easily convert dollars.

The proper formula to convert USD into foreign currency, also used by the automatic Currency Converter, is:

Foreign Currency Exchange Rate × No. of USD = Foreign Currency

For example, if you traveled to the Philippines and wanted to exchange $100 for the equivalent amount of Philippines pesos, you would first find out the exchange rate for dollars to pesos. If the exchange rate were 55 PHP per 1 USD, you would do the following calcualation:

55 PHP × 100 USD = 5500 PHP

So, in this case, 100 dollars is worth 5500 pesos.

Find Information on a Web Site You can find a Universal Currency Converter at www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi. If this link is inactive, or if you need to find Internet sites with similar information, ask your teacher for permission to use a search engine. Here are some keywords you might use: currency exchange rates, currency converter, international currency.

Activity Questions

1			What is the meaning of exchange rate?
2			Why do exchange rates for currencies change from day to day?
3			In the chart below, which two currencies are closest in value to the American dollar? $1.00 (1 USD) equals: 0.60 GBP Great Britain Pounds 0.85 EUR European Euros 1.15 CAD Canadian Dollars 6 EGP Egyptian Pounds 10 MXN Mexican Pesos 45 INR India Rupees 55 PHP Philippines Pesos 115 JPY Japanese Yen 1,055 SKW South Korean Wan
4			Looking at the chart above, if you were to exchange dollars, which country's currency would give you the least amount of coins or bills in exchange, and which country would give you the most?
5			Looking at the chart above, how many pesos would you get if you were traveling in Mexico and wanted to exchange $200 USD?