Drop the whole cycles, jump the whole units, and only count what is left over. When several things share the time, draw each as a bar, then see how the bars meet.
- 1Repeating Patterns5:59
- Now playing: 2Totals over Cycles5:12
- 3Calendars6:30
- 4Elapsed Time5:41
- 5Overlapping Time Periods3:55
- 6Time Spans4:11
Cycles and Time: Totals over Cycles
Methods in this video
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- 1
Total? Keep the full cycles, add the leftover
When to use it: Something repeats, each full cycle adds the same amount (distance, arrivals, items of one colour), and the question asks for the total, with an unfinished cycle at the end.
- Write down the cycle length and what each full cycle adds, then divide the total by the cycle length.
- Keep the full cycles: multiply the quotient by what each cycle adds.
- Keep the leftover too: walk it from the start of a cycle. The event may happen partway through, so add only what really happens.
Practise exam-style questions with these methods
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