From the Rumor Queen site. She is preparing to go to
In preparation for all of the shopping that RK knows I will be doing in
What is 125/8?
The exchange rate is not exactly 8, of course. It is 7.82. Which means that $125 Yuan is actually $15.98 instead of the $15.62 you get by dividing by 8. However, when doing this in my head what I get is “a little over 15 dollars”. Close enough.
Some people just use the multiples of 8 (16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80, 88, 96, 104). So, 60 Yuan falls between 56 and 64 so it is between 7 and 8 dollars…. 600 Yuan is between 70 and 80 dollars.
And if that works for you then great. But for some reason, when shopping and bargaining and needing to be quick on my toes, that doesn’t work for me.
Here is a quick primer in RQ Yuan to dollar math… first thing is to realize 8 Yuan is about one dollar, so anything less than 10 Yuan, if I want it and I have room to pack it, I buy it.
Next have an idea of the landmark numbers:
16 Yuan is about two dollars
40 Yuan is about five dollars
80 Yuan is about ten dollars
100 Yuan is about 12.50
120 Yuan is about 15 dollars (hence my “a little over 15 dollars” from above)
160 Yuan is about 20 dollars
400 Yuan is about 50 dollars
800 Yuan is about 100 dollars
I realize that this is similar to the multiples of 8, but in my head, working with numbers ending in zero is easier. To give you an idea of how close this will get you, under the current exchange rate of 7.82, 800 Yuan is actually equal to $102.30.
Here is how I think when I see a price tag in
75 Yuan? Well, 80 Yuan is $10, so off the top of my head I know it’s somewhere close to $9.50.
35 Yuan? Again, 40 Yuan is $5 so I immediately know it’s in the vicinity of $4.50.
18 Yuan? - Just a touch over $2, since 16 Yuan is two dollars.
185 Yuan? - Somewhere around $23 (160 Yuan is $20, 200 Yuan is $25, 185 is in the middle)
See how this works? If you know those landmark numbers then you will have a rough idea of how much you are paying for things.
1 comments:
100 Yuan = $15 CDN - a much easier multiplier than $12 - but I'm a math-challenged accountant.
But when I was there I didn't think on the fly much...I'd think of 100 Yuan as $100 and when I got back to the hotel I'd do the math. One trip saw me spend about 900 Yuan - Less than $150 CDN - and I had two garbage bags full of stuff!! And I'm not much of a shopper. I'd hate to see what I'd buy if I liked to shop. (But I am an AWESOME haggler so it's good to have me on your side!)
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