Numbers - Rounding and estimating
Look to the number to the right of this
Rounding numbers
Giving the complete number for something
is sometimes unnecessary. For instance, the
attendance at a football match might
be 23745. But for most people who want to
know the attendance figure, an answer of
'nearly 24000', or 'roughly 23700', is
fine.
football
We can round off large numbers like these
to the nearest thousand, nearest hundred,
nearest ten, nearest whole number, or any
other specified number.
Round 23745 to the nearest thousand.
First, look at the digit in the thousands
place. It is 3. This means the number lies
between 23000 and 24000. Look at the digit
to the right of the 3. It is 7. That means
23745 is closer to 24000 than 23000.
Remember
The rule is, if the next digit is: 5 or more,
we 'round up'. 4 or less, it stays as it is.
23745 to the nearest thousand = 24000.
23745 to the nearest hundred = 23700.
Question
What is 23745 rounded to the nearest ten?
Decimal places
You might be asked to express a number to
a certain number of decimal places. Keep
calm and just follow his process.
Identify the last digit from the number of
decimal places asked for. So if you need
to find a number to 2 d.p. Just take the
second number after the dot.
one. If it is 5 or above, round the last
digit up, below 5 round it down
If the last digit is a 9 and you have to
round it up, replace it by a 0 and add
one to the second to last number
So for example round 32.799 to 2 d.p.
The answer is 32.80
Question
Write 2.6470588 to 2 decimal places (dp).
Question
On a calculator, work out , giving
your answer correct to one decimal place.
Question
Round off the number 3.9762645 to 1 dp.
Significant figures
When dealing with questions involving
significant figures there are just a few things
you need to remember.
The first significant figure is just the first
number that isnt a zero
All the numbers after this are significant,
even if they are a zero
After rounding up the last significant
digit, fill in zeros (but not beyond the
decimal point)
Non-zero digits + Zeros in between are
S.F
Leading Zeros not S.F
Trailing Zeros
o Decimal: count them as S.F
o No decimal: Dont count them
Examples
0.045 to 1 s.f. is 0.04
1.567 to 3 s.f. is 1.57
20894.5 to 2 s.f. is 21000
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Numbers - Rounding and estimating
1.454 to 3 s.f. is 1.45
Question
What would you get if you wrote the
number 368249 correct to 1 significant
figure?
Question
What would you get if you wrote the
number 0.00245 correct to 1 significant
figure?
Higher only
Question
What would you get if you wrote
0.0000058763 correct to 2 significant
figures?
Question
What is 0.000030456 to two significant
figures?
Question
What is 7.994 to two significant figures?
Estimating
We can use significant figures to get an
approximate answer to a problem.
We can round off all the numbers in a maths
problem to 1 significant figure to make
'easier' numbers. It is often possible to do
this in your head.
Question
Find a rough answer to
Answer
We first round off both numbers to 1
significant figure (s.f.):
19.4 = 20 (1 s.f.)
0.0437 = 0.04 (1 s.f.)
So we now need to make the denominator a
whole number. We can do this by
multiplying both 20 and 0.04 by
100.
Divide everything by 4.
The real answer to 19.4 0.0437 =
443.9359... So this was a good estimate.
Try this one. Remember, the working you do
is just as important as the answer.
Question
How would you get an approximate answer
for 386062 0.007243?
Answer
Did you get the answer 400000 0.007 =
2800?
If so, well done! You rounded off correctly
and worked out the approximate answer.
Rounding to 1 s.f.
386062 = 400000
0.007243 = 0.007
So 400000 0.007 = 2800
Upper and Lower Bounds
If we are told that a piece of wood is 12cm
long to the nearest cm, then what is the
range of possible lengths it could be?
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Numbers - Rounding and estimating

It must be at least 11.5cm long to round up

to 12cm. But it must be less than 12.5cm, to 38380
round down to 12cm. If it was 12.5cm or
more we would round up to 13cm. 38370
Since 12.5cm is the upper limit we call this
38400
the 'upper bound'.
So we say that 11.5cm is the lower 39000
bound and 12.5cm is the upper bound for 4. Round off the number 37649 to 1
the length of the piece of wood. s.f.
Try these questions.

Question 5. Round off the number 0.0073184

to 1 s.f.
A fence is 22m long to the nearest metre.
What are the upper and lower bounds?
6. What sum would you do to get a
Question
rough answer for 73541 x
0.008564 (to 1 s.f.)?
A box is 8.5cm wide measured to
the nearest tenth of a cm. What are the 70000 x 0.009
upper and lower bounds?
70000 x 0.01
Rounding and estimating - 70000 x 0.1
higher - Test 74000 x 0.009
Use a calculator to work these out, then
The attendance at an international rugby give your answers correct to the accuracy
match was given as 38379. in brackets.
1. Round off this number to the 7. Work out 412 19, and give your
nearest thousand. answer to the nearest whole
number.
40000
19
39000
20
38000
21
30000
2. Round off 38379 to the nearest 22
hundred. 8. Round off 824691 correct to 2 s.f.

39000
9. Round off 0.0000386241 to 2 s.f.
38400

38300
10.Round off 73541 correct to 2 s.f.
38000
3. Round off 38379 to the nearest
ten.