{"id":245467,"date":"2024-09-23T16:00:25","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/?p=245467"},"modified":"2024-09-27T16:48:36","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T08:48:36","slug":"estimation-approximation-solving-rounding-to-significant-figure-word-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/estimation-approximation-solving-rounding-to-significant-figure-word-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Estimation & Approximation: Solving Rounding To Significant Figure Word Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Welcome to another Math blog post on the topic of Estimation & Approximation<\/a>!<\/p>\n

In a previous blog post, we discussed how to solve word problems about the largest and smallest possible values of a rounded number. Click on this link<\/a> to check it out if you haven\u2019t!<\/p>\n

In this blog post, we will discuss how to tackle similar word problems involving rounding to significant figures.<\/p>\n

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Let’s Take A Look At This Estimation & Approximation Question<\/span><\/h2>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

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Read Also:<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Estimation & Approximation: Using A Number Line For Rounding Word Problems<\/b><\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Algebra: A Step-By-Step Guide To Factorising Linear Expressions<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    <\/h2>\n

    Thought Process<\/span><\/h2>\n

    The question wants you to find the largest and smallest possible number of people at the stadium.<\/p>\n

    It is given that there are 48 000 people in the stadium. But is that the exact number? No.<\/p>\n

    The question tells us that this number was rounded to 2 significant figures.<\/p>\n

    Some students would get stuck at this point and tell me, \u201cTeacher, I really don\u2019t know what to do. If you said round it off to the nearest thousands, I\u2019d know what to do. But 2 significant figures, I am not sure!\u201d<\/p>\n

    Are you also confused about what 2 significant figures mean?<\/p>\n

    Don\u2019t worry because I will teach you the secret to unlocking such questions.<\/p>\n

    First, write down 48 000.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Remember that we are rounding off to 2 significant figures.<\/p>\n

    The first digit in the number is 4, and this is our first significant figure!<\/p>\n

    What is the second digit? It is 8! Therefore, this is our second significant figure.<\/p>\n

    \"The<\/p>\n

    After identifying the second significant figure, we can proceed to determine its place value<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    What is the place value of the digit 8? It is thousands<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

    \n

    \ud83d\ude80\u00a0Tip For Rounding To Significant Figure Word Problems \ud83d\ude80<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The key to unlocking this question is finding the 2nd significant figure<\/strong> is in the thousands place<\/strong> before we can even do anything.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    \"The<\/p>\n

    The next step is to draw a number line and write 48 000 in the middle.<\/p>\n

    \"How<\/p>\n

    To get the number on the right, add 1 000 to 48 000.<\/p>\n

    \"How<\/p>\n

    To get the number on the left, subtract 1000 from 48 000.<\/p>\n

    \"How<\/p>\n

    Now, let us find the numbers in the middle.<\/p>\n

    What is the number in the middle of 47 000 and 48 000? It\u2019s 47 500! That is our first middle number.<\/p>\n

    Next, what is the middle of 48 000 and 49 000? It\u2019s 48 500. We can now add it as our second middle number.<\/p>\n

    \"How<\/p>\n

    Now that we have all these information in our number line, we can start solving the question.<\/p>\n

    In the previous blog post, we mentioned that the number that you see on the left side of your rounded value will always be the smallest possible number.<\/p>\n

    Let us check. Is 47 500 really the smallest possible number?<\/p>\n

    \n

    \ud83d\udd0e<\/span> Remember This When Rounding A Number To 2 Significant Figures <\/span><\/strong>\ud83d\udd0e<\/span><\/p>\n

    Look at the 3rd significant figure. When the number is 5 and up, you will round up. When it is 4 and below, you will round down.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    In order to round it off to 2 significant figures, we have to look at the 3rd significant figure, which is 5. This means 7 will be rounded up to 8. Therefore, we will get 48 000, which is what we are looking for!<\/p>\n

    \"The<\/p>\n

    The next question we have to ask is, can the number get any smaller?<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s try going one digit smaller and check 47 499.<\/p>\n

    When we round it off to 2 significant figures, we will get 47 000, which is not what we are looking for.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Therefore, we can confirm that the smallest possible value is 47 500<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    Let us proceed to finding the largest possible number. Is it the number on the left of 48 000, which is 48 500? Let\u2019s check!<\/p>\n

    To round off 48 500 to 2 significant figures, we have to look at the 3rd significant figure, which is 5. It will cause 8 to round up, so we will end up with 49 000.<\/p>\n

    \"The<\/p>\n

    Is this what we are looking for? No, right? Remember that we are looking for 48 000.<\/p>\n

    Definitely, 48 500 is not<\/strong> the largest possible value.<\/p>\n

    Should we go bigger or smaller?<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s try going one number bigger<\/strong> \u2014 48 501.<\/p>\n

    Will this give us 48 000 when rounded off to 2 significant figures?<\/p>\n

    The 3rd significant figure is 5, which causes 8 to round up. We will get 49 000, which is not what we want.<\/p>\n

    \"The<\/p>\n

    Now that we know that we cannot go bigger, let\u2019s try going one number smaller<\/strong>, which is 48 499.<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s check!<\/p>\n

    The 3rd significant figure is 4, which will cause the 2nd significant figure to round down, giving us 48 000.<\/p>\n

    \"The<\/p>\n

    This is exactly what we are looking for.<\/p>\n

    Therefore, the largest possible value is 48 499<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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    Suggested Answer<\/span>
    <\/h2>\n

    The smallest possible value<\/span><\/strong> is 47 500<\/span><\/strong>, while the largest possible value<\/span><\/strong> is 48 499<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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    Conclusion<\/span>
    <\/h2>\n

    I hope that you\u2019ve learned how to find the smallest and largest possible value of a number rounded to a given significant figure better and faster!<\/p>\n

    Remember that the first thing you have to do is to identify the place value of the number<\/strong> in the given significant figure \u2014 in our example, the 2nd significant figure in 48 000 is 8, which is in the thousands place.<\/p>\n

    Once you know this information, you can proceed to draw a number line and add the two numbers on the left and two numbers on the right.<\/p>\n

    From there, you can check for the smallest and largest possible values!<\/p>\n

    Stay tuned for more Secondary 1 Math<\/a> blog posts!<\/p>\n

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    In this article, we’ll be discussing how to solve Secondary 1 Math Estimation & Approximation question on rounding to significant figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":245481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59,72],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"modified_by":"Jaimie Aberia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245467"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245467"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245659,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245467\/revisions\/245659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245467"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepiquelab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=245467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}