Money and telling the time

Making an amount with coins

To pay an amount, start from the largest coin that still fits, then fill the rest. For $27$ cents: one $20$, then $5$, then $2$. Starting from the smallest coin works too but takes far longer and invites mistakes.

Change

Change is a subtraction, but it is easier as a count up. Paying $50$ for something that costs $35$: count $35\to40$ is $5$, then $40\to50$ is $10$, so change is $15$.

Clocks

The short hand is hours, the long hand is minutes. Half past means the long hand points down at $6$; quarter past means it points right at $3$. The hour hand also moves, so at half past four it sits between $4$ and $5$ — you read the number it has passed, not the nearer one.