BUSINESS IN NUMBERS (Czajkowski)

Task 1

Your new employee is going to deliver a presentation on the history of your company to e new customer. Give him/her some `golden rules' which he/she should follow during this presentation (e.g. `Make sure you are not standing between the screen and your audience').

Task 2

Which is which? Label the following visuals with the words below.

a pie chart a bar chart a flow chart

a table a figure a graph

1. 58

2. step 1 step 2 step 3 step 4

3.

4.

5.

6 2004 2005 2006

input 23 25 27

output 50 59 63

Task 3

Divide the following groups of words into three categories: VERBS, ADJECTIVES, and NOUNS. Note that adjectives can indicate both an upward and downward trend.

GROWTH WORDS:

rapid an increase of moderate

to go up by/to to increase by/to sharp

slight dramatic steady

to rise by/to substantial an upward trend

small to grow a rise of

FALL WORDS:

to decrease by/to a drop of to drop by/to

sudden to go down by/to gradual

a downward trend abrupt noticeable

to fall by/to a decline of a fall of

significant

Task 4

Which phrase goes with which picture?

a) to reach a peak of/at 1.

b) to reach a plateau 2.

c) to level off at 3.

d) to stand at; to remain stable / constant at 4.

Task 5

Look at the ways you can describe changes and do the exercise.

Cigarette prices increased by 10 eurocents / to €1.20.

There was a price increase / rise of 10eurocents.

Fresh fruit prices fell by 5% last week.

The price of apples dropped to 50 eurocents a pound.

There was a fall in price of 5%.

There was a price decrease of 5%.

1. bus tickets / prices / 3% (10 eurocents)

2. swivel chairs / sales / 50% (5,000 units)

3. car / import / 45% (4,500 cars)

4. machinery / production / 2% (50 units)

5. apples / export / 30% (20 tons)

6. traffic / 3% / last year

7. oil reserves / 20% / in the Gulf countries

NUMERALS

We can read `0' in English as:

• `oh' (in telephone numbers)

• naught / nought (usually before or after a decimal point)

• zero (especially in mathematics and temperatures)

• nil (in sports)

4.5 - four point five

4.57 - four point five seven (not: fifty-seven)

76.014 - seventy-six point nought / zero one four

half ½ 154 - a/one hundred and fifty-four

a/one third 1/3 1,005 - a/one thousand and five

two-thirds 2/3 1,101 - one thousand, one hundred and one

a quarter ¼ 1^st - first (spoken: `the first')

three-quarters ¾ 101^st - hundred and first

one tenth 1/10

one and a half 1 ½

MATHEMATICAL SYMBOLS

4 + 4 four plus / and four > is greater than

- 4 minus / less four < is less than

= 4 equals / makes / is equal to four 4(do kwadratu) four squared

x 4 times / multiplied by four 4(do potęgi trzeciej) four cubed

: 4 divided by four 4(do potęgi piątej) four to the power five

(w przybliżeniu równa się) is approximately equal to (pierwiastek kwadratowy z 4) the square root of four

( ) brackets [ ] square brackets

NOTE: Hundred, thousand, million, and billion do not take -s in precise numbers or after quantifiers as e.g. `several':

• four hundred dollars (not: four hundreds)

• a few hundred dollars

Hundred, thousand, etc. take a plural -s when the number is not precise or after `many':

• hundreds of companies

• many thousands of customers / thousands of customers

Task 6

Read the following numbers:

a) $2,000,000

b) USD 5.2 bn

c) 4.07%

d) 7,865,321

e) $2.99

f) 1/7

g) $4.3 m

h) 13.011

i) 13,011

j) 9.87

k) 200 companies

l) 8,456 customers

m) 2bn

n) several 100 products

o) 0 (stopni) C

NOTE:

$149,578 is approximately / around / about / in the region of $150,000.

$150,000 in round figures.

Task 7

Find some data, prepare their graphical presentation and necessary comments. Present them to the group. Remember to use signal language required during such presentations.

3

---