The U.S. trade deficit at the beginning of 2005 was $$\$ 475,000,000$$. If the wealthiest \(1.00 \%\) of the U.S. population \((297,000,000)\) contributed an equal amount of money to bring the trade deficit to $$\$ 0$$, how many dollars would each person contribute? If one of these people were to pay his or her share in nickels only, how many nickels are needed? Another person living abroad at the time decides to pay in pounds sterling ( \(\mathrm{f}\) ). How many pounds sterling does this person contribute (assume a conversion rate of \(1 \mathrm{f}=\$ 1.869)\) ?

Understanding how percentages represent portions of populations is a crucial mathematical and demographic skill. In our exercise, the percentage concept was applied to determine what portion of the U.S. population would be responsible for covering the trade deficit. Here, we looked at the wealthiest 1% of the population. This percentage was used to calculate the actual number of people by multiplying the total population by 0.01.For more clarity, think of the entire population as a pie, and 1% as a tiny slice of that pie. Even though 1% seems small, when applied to a large number like the U.S. population, it represents a substantial number of individuals, in this case, 2,970,000 people. Grasping the concept of percentages in such real-world scenarios can help students realize the impact of small percentages on large quantities, a principle that can apply to various fields, from economics to healthcare planning.

Currency conversion is essential in our increasingly globalized world, where transactions often involve different countries' currencies. In our problem, we are converting U.S. dollars to pounds sterling. To do this, one must know the current exchange rate, which can be thought of as the price for buying another currency. Here, the exchange rate is 1 pound sterling equals \(1.869.To convert dollars to pounds, divide the dollar amount by the exchange rate:
\frac{\text{\)159,932.32}}{1.869} \text{ = 85,542.82 pounds sterling}Understanding currency conversion not only helps with academic exercises but is also vital for travelers, international business, and understanding global economics. The conversion rate can fluctuate due to market dynamics, making this skill not just mathematically based, but also linked to current world events.

While not directly related to our trade deficit problem, arithmetic operations are ubiquitous in chemistry, where they are used for calculations like determining the amounts of chemicals in reactions or the concentration of solutions. If we were dealing with a chemical problem instead of a monetary one, similar steps would be applied, such as ratios and proportions.For example, in stoichiometry, chemists use balanced chemical equations to calculate the masses of reactants and products. They would use the molar mass of substances (analogous to the exchange rate in currency conversion) to convert between moles and grams. Such operations are fundamental in chemistry and other fields of science and engineering where precise measurements and calculations are critical.