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 1st - first (spoken: `the first')
three-quarters ¾ 101st - 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.
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