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Dollar: Definition, Examples, and Practice Math Problems

Jessica Kaminski

reviewed by Jo-ann Caballes

Updated on October 11, 2024

Money is a core asset in the conduct of our daily affairs. This article covers the concept of dollars in math, examples, and practice questions.

What Is a Dollar?

A dollar is a kind of money used in some countries such as the United States and its territories, Canada, Singapore, Jamaica, Namibia, etc., for the primary purpose of buying and selling.

There are different types of dollars such as:

• Australian Dollar (AUD)
• Canadian Dollar (CAD)
• United States Dollar (USD) 
• Singapore Dollar (SGD)
• Jamaican Dollar (JMD), and so on.

However, the dollar is identifiable by its sign; $.

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How many cents make a dollar?

There are 100 cents to a dollar. This means $0.01 is equal to one cent. In mathematical representations involving dollars, we always use cents alongside the dollar because:

• It allows easy use of decimal points because it aligns with the base 10 system since 100 cents is 1 dollar. So, 0.1 dollars can easily be interpreted as 1 cent.
• It is the universally accepted format for expressing dollars and its remainder.

Cents may also be called Pennies. 

How many coins make a dollar?

100 cents make a dollar. Here are some other types of coins and their value in dollars: 

• 20 Nickels make a dollar
• 10 Dimes make a dollar
• 4 Quarters make a dollar

Solved Math Tasks: Examples

Solved math problem 1

Jimmy has 500 cents, how much does he have in dollars?

Answer

We know that 1 dollar to cents is 100 cents, so, 500 cents to dollars is 5 dollars.

Solved math problem 2

Bertha has 200 nickels, if she wishes to exchange them for quarters, how many quarters would she receive?

Answer

We know that 20 nickels make a dollar while 4 quarters make a dollar. 

This means there are 5 nickels for 1 quarter.  

Therefore we would divide 200 by 5

 200 ÷ 5=  40

Thus, 40 quarters is equal to 200 nickels.

Solved math problem 3

Jane saves $20 and adds 112 dimes, how much does she have in total savings? 

Answer

There are 10 dimes in every dollar.

For 112 dimes, there will be 11 dollars and 2 dimes

By adding this with her initial savings of $20, we get $31 and 2 dimes.

Dollar: Practice Math Problems

Money worksheets

For further learning, check out Brighterly’s free worksheets on money

• Identify coins worksheets
• Counting dimes worksheets
• Counting nickels worksheets
• Counting money worksheets

Jessica Kaminski

67 articles

Jessica is a a seasoned math tutor with over a decade of experience in the field. With a BSc and Master’s degree in Mathematics, she enjoys nurturing math geniuses, regardless of their age, grade, and skills. Apart from tutoring, Jessica blogs at Brighterly. She also has experience in child psychology, homeschooling and curriculum consultation for schools and EdTech websites.