In my far-distant youth (circa 1963), I actually learned to add and subtract pounds, shillings and pence, as well as dollars and cents. It was all part of being Canadian and not quite out of the shadow of the ol' Empire yet.

This feat of mental gymnastics helped immeasurably a couple of years later, when the New Math hit me like a fully loaded dump truck. Now, if only the problems had dealt with buying sugar at sixpence a pound and meat at one and fourpence instead of sums in Base 8, I'd have been laughing.