How to work out a unit price

Part ofMathsOperations - Calculations

Key points

  • gives the cost per unit of the item that is being sold. It is calculated by dividing the cost by the quantity.
  • Examples of unit price are:
    • price per litre
    • price per packet
    • price per kilogram
    • price per item
  • Unit prices can be compared to find the best value for money when shopping.
  • Using bar models, multiplication and division will help you to calculate unit prices.
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How to work out a unit price

  • Use the information given in a problem to decide the calculation you need to do.
  • Complete the calculation to work out the cost of one item.
  • To compare two items, work out the unit price for each to see which is the best value.

Examples

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  1. Example 1. A bar split up into six blocks. The whole bar is labelled: Block booking. One hundred and seventy-one pounds. Each individual block on the bar is each ticket.

    A concert venue sells a set of 6 tickets (a block booking) for £171. The cost per ticket needs to be worked out. The bar represents the block booking. It is in 6 parts to represent the 6 tickets in the booking. The diagram is labelled with the known information.

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Question 1

A ready meals company has 2 home delivery offers:

  • 1 week of meals for 2 people for £46.90
  • 9 meals for 2 people for £57.60

Which offer has the better value for money?

Text: Meals for 2 people. Two bar models and labels. The first is a divided into 7 blocks and is labelled ‘7 days. Forty-six pound ninety. 7 meals.’ The second is divided into 9 blocks and is labelled ‘fifty-seven pound sixty. Nine meals.

Question 2

What is the cost of 1 litre of apple juice if 3 litres costs £2.70?

A bar model divided into three blocks. It is labelled: 3 litres. Two pound seventy.

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Quiz

Try this quiz to practise working out a unit price. You may need a pen and paper to solve some of these problems.

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Real-world maths

A Black woman stood in front of a trolley in a supermarket holding a notepad and a jar of tomato sauce.
Working out the unit price can help you to find the best deal when shopping.
  • Supermarkets have multiple ways of selling an identical product. For example, pasta sauce may be sold separately as 1 jar, or in packs of 2, 4 or 8. They will not all have the same unit price. A family managing a budget may work out the unit price so they can buy pasta sauce at the best value.
  • Any business managing a budget will use unit prices to compare for better value products.
A Black woman stood in front of a trolley in a supermarket holding a notepad and a jar of tomato sauce.
Working out the unit price can help you to find the best deal when shopping.
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