fandomhigh | Maths For Real Life, Period 1, Class 3 [1/21]

"Let's talk about your money," Jean-Paul began class today. "Hopefully, you have some. If not, hopefully you will have some in the future. None of you came to me last week to tell me that you do not have money where you come from, so I am not worrying about that. Today, we are going to talk about currency exchange. Listen up, Americans, not everyone uses the dollar. I understand this may come as a shock, but please try not to faint. Different countries have different currencies, and they have different hard values, because every nation's economy is different. The American dollar is worth less than the pound; this is why trips to England are so expensive. It is worth more than the ruble and many other currencies.

"The currency exchange rate is actually something you will have very little control over. The relative worth of currencies fluctuates frequently--in more technologically developed societies, it can change by the minute--based on a variety of factors. The best advice I can give to you is to keep up with the news when you are going to be traveling abroad, guess as best you can, and exchange your money when it seems prudent to do so. That is, if the exchange rate the day you arrive in, say, Greece, is one euro for a dollar twenty, and the next day it is one euro for a dollar sixteen, you might want to exchange the bulk of your money then. If this is a serious concern you might want to keep an eye on the stock market of wherever you are traveling to, but as a rule of thumb watch for labor unrests and major political decisions that will affect the economy. And if there is going to be a bank strike you will want to exchange your money before that starts.

"Now, your homework for the week will be to ~~handwavily~~ go to a currency conversion site online," Jean-Paul said, pointing to the url written on the blackboard, "at least three times. Pick two currencies and compare them each time. Does the exchange rate stay the same, or does it fluctuate quite a bit? If they change quite dramatically, write a short report on why you think that is. If they do not, you are still on the hook for a short report on why the value of a currency might change suddenly. Today, I would like everyone to answer me this: why am I making such a big deal out of this?"

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"Is there any kind of currency conversion list available between the worlds represented here?"

Because that kind of thing would be nice for planning.

"I do not believe there is," Jean-Paul said sadly. "It would be very useful, though, would it not?

That flummoxed him just a little.

"So the bank here only deals in the currency of this place?"

"I doubt it," Jean-Paul mused. "That would be tres inconvenient, non? Likely they deal in hard currency as well--gold and the like. And they may have the type of resource you seek. It is certainly worth looking into."

"All right," he said.

"I just don't want to save while here only to have it turn out to be worthless wherever I end up."

A brief pause.

"Sir."

"Yes, that would be a problem. I would suggest converting to something valuable in your world before you go. Gold, maybe, or I know some worlds value chocolate."

"I'm not going back to my world," he said very firmly.

He refused.

Jean-Paul took this in stride. "Fair enough. Then I would suggest the same thing for whichever world you plan to be travelling to. I believe the markup in value on chocolate on certain worlds can be quite astonishing."

"Anything special for baked versions?"

He was just curious, after all.

"I have no idea," Jean-Paul said honestly. "You might ask at the bank."

"I will," he promised.

There was a short pause for thought.

"Thank you."

Maths For Real Life, Period 1, Class 3 [1/21]

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