13

Section 1.2
Rounding and
Estimation

Now, you know that some arithmetic problems may get long and
tedious, so you can understand why some folks choose to estimate and
round numbers. Rounding is the quickest, so we will tackle that first.
In rounding, we decide to not keep the exact number that someone
gave us. For example:

Rounding

Tenths
Hundredths
Thousandths
Ten Thousandths
Hundred Thousandths
Millionths

Hundreds
Tens
Ones

Hundred Thousands
Ten Thousands
Thousands

Hundred Millions
Ten Millions
Millions

Billions

If I have $528.37 in the bank, I might easily say that I have about $500. I have just
rounded to the nearest hundred.
On the other hand, I might be a little more specific and say that I have about (still not
exact) $530. I have just rounded to the nearest ten.
Here are the places:
Just to make sure you are clear on it, here is a big example:

6,731,239,465.726409
Example:
Round to the nearest hundredth:
538.4691
This number is right between 538.46 and 538.47
Which one is nearest? The 9 tells us that we are closer to
538.47
2nd Example:
Round to the nearest thousand:
783,299.4321
This number is right between 783,000 and 784,000
Which one is nearest? The 2 in the hundreds tells us that we are closer to :
783,000

LAST EXAMPLE
Section 1.2

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Round $4,278.23 to the nearest hundred

$4,300.00
Decide if our number is closer to the nearest
hundred above the number or below the number
$4,278.23
$4,200.00
Change our number to the one it is closer to
$4,278.23 $4,300.00
Answer: $4,300.00

Estimation
Estimation
1. Round to the highest value.
2. Do the easy problem.

Once rounding is understood, it can be used as a great tool to make sure that we have not
missed something major in our computations. If we have a problem like:
3,427,000

87.3
We could see about where the answer is if we estimate first:
Round each number to the greatest value you can
3,000,000

90
Voila! Our answer will be about 270,000,000
We should note that the real answer is:
299,177,100
but the estimation will let us know that we are in the right ball park. It ensures that our
answer makes sense.

LAST EXAMPLE
Multiply by rounding: 986.7 4.9
Round the numbers
986.7 1,000
4.9 5
Multiply the rounded numbers together
1,000 5 = 5,000
Our answer for 986.7 4.9 will be about 5,000
986.7 4.9 5,000

Section 1.2