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UNIT 1.30: APPROXIMATIONS AND ESTIMATIONS

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OBJECTIVES OF THIS UNIT

After Reading This Unit You Should Be able To:

 Express numbers to decimal places.

 Express numbers to significant figures.
 Rounding off numbers.
 Expressing numbers in standard form.

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APPROXIMATIONS. .

Definition:

 Approximation is a degree of accuracy of a number and how to determine it.

When we talk of approximation we are looking at a value that is closer to the
true value. It is denoted by ≈.
 According to Langston(2001) Approximation is anything that is similar, but
not exactly equal to something else. A number can be approximated by
rounding. A calculation can be approximated by rounding the values within
it before performing the operations.

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DECIMAL PLACES. .

 When rounding using decimal places(dp), the degree of accuracy that is

required is usually given. However, there are certain calculations where the
degree of accuracy may be more obvious.
 For example, calculations involving money should be given to two decimal
places to represent the pence.

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 . .

Rounding To A Decimal Place:

 look at the first digit after the decimal point if rounding to one decimal place
or the second digit for two decimal places draw a vertical line to the right of
the place value digit that is required look at the next digit if the next digit is
5 or more, increase the previous digit by one if it's 4 or less, keep the
previous digit the same remove any numbers to the right of the line.

Example 1.32:

Round off 248.6508 expressing your answer to

(i) 1 decimal place.

(ii) 2 decimal places.
(iii) 3 decimal places.

Solutions:

(i) 248.6508 to 1 decimal place is 248.6|508 so that we get 248.7 Notice

that your answer should have the same number of decimal places as
the approximation asked for.
Therefore 248.6508 ≈ 248.7 to one decimal place.

(ii) 248.6508 to 2 decimal places is 248.65|08 so that we obtain 248.65

here we are required to write the number with two digits after a
decimal point the third digit after a decimal point is 0 therefore it does
not affect required digit.

Therefore 248.6508 ≈ 248.65 to two decimal places

(iii) 248.6508 to 3 decimal places is 248.650|8. So that we get 248.651

Note that here we are required to write this number with three digits

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 after a decimal point and since fourth digit after a decimal point is 8
we add 1 to 0.
Therefore 248.6508 ≈ 248.651 to three decimal places.

Example 1.33

Express 3.0783 correct to

(i) One decimal place

(ii) Two decimal places.
(iii) Three decimal places.

Solution [ Exercise]

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ROUNDING OFF NUMBERS

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 Rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100, 1000. To approximate to the

nearest ten, look at the digit in the tens column. To approximate to the
nearest hundred, look at the digit in the hundreds column. For the nearest
thousand, look at the digit in the thousands column.
 Note-draw a vertical line to the right of the place value digit that is required
look at the next digit if it's 5 or more, increase the previous digit by one if
it's 4 or less, keep the previous digit the same fill any spaces to the right of
the line with zeros.

Example 1.34
Rounding of 4853 to the nearest
(i) 10
(ii) 100
(iii) 1000

Solutions:

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 (i) 4853 to the nearest 10 gives 850 since the next digit after the 10 th column
is 3 less than 5.
4853 ≈ 4850 to nearest 10

(ii) 4 8 53 to nearest 100 gives 4900 . Since the next digit after the 100 th
column is 5 and so we add 1 to the digit in the 100th column.
4853 ≈4900 to the nearest 100.

(iii) 4853 the nearest 1000 gives us 5000.

4853 ≈ 5000 to the nearest 1000

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ROUNDING OFF TO SIGNIFICANT FIGURES

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 The method of rounding to a significant figure is often used as it can be

applied to any kind of number, regardless of how big or small it is.
 This method particularly looks at the most important figure in the number.
To round to a significant figure: look at the first non-zero digit
(i) If rounding to one significant figure look at the digit after the first
non-zero digit.
(ii) If rounding to two significant figures draw a vertical line after the
place value digit that is required look at the next digit if the next digit
is 5 or more, increase the previous digit by one if it is 4 or less, keep
the previous digit the same fill any spaces to the right of the line with
zeros, stopping at the decimal point if there is one

Example 1.35:

Express 26045638 correct to

(i) 1 significant figure.

(ii) 2 significant figures
(iii) 4 significant figures.

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Solution:

(i) 26045638 to 1 significant figure is 30 000000. Notice that the next digit
after 2 is 6 greater than 5. So we add 1 to 2.
(ii) 26045638 to 2 significant figures is 26 000000. Notice that the next digit
after 6 is 0 less than 5.
(iii) 26045638 to 4 significant figures is 26050000.

Example 1.36:

Round off 9.75 kg to the nearest Kilogram.

Solution:

9.75 is closer to 10 than it is 9 (see figure 6.1) below

Therefore 9.75 = 10kg to the nearest kilogram

Fig 6.1

Example 1.37 [Tutorial]

(i) State the number of decimal places in each of the following.

(a) 2.05
(b) 0.00026
(c) 12.00
(ii) State the number of significant figures in each of the following.
(a) 1000
(b) 1000001
(c) 0.002
(d) 18.4
(iii) Express the following correct to the indicated decimal places.
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 (a) 0.0518. [2 dp]
(b) 33.0008 [3 dp]
(c) 2.5099 [3 dp]
(iv) Write the following numbers correct 3 significant figures.
(a) 76345
(b) 888.981
(c) 2.0055
(v) Round off the following to the nearest k100.
(a) K5546
(b) K233478
(c) K5003050
(vi) Express the following to the nearest kilometer.
(a) 10.34km
(b) 0.58km
(c) 890.235km
(vii) Write the following correct to the nearest whole number.
(a) 1028
(b) 30.45
(c) 2.099
(d) 9.49

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STANDARD FORM. .

Definition:

 The shorter way of writing numbers is known as Standard form. By this

notation numbers are expressed in the form
a×10^n where 1≤a<10 and n belongs to the set if integers
 The average lifespan is said to be 2000 000 000 seconds. This is quite a
long time when expressed in .seconds. however writing this number in
standard form we obtain.
2000 000 000 = 2×10⁹

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 How to write a Decimal number in standard form .

How to Write Decimal Numbers in Standard Form?

 Decimal numbers employ 10 as the base and require 10 different numerals

and a dot for the representation of its numbers. In this system, the digits used
in denoting the number take different place values depending upon their
position. For example, the number 645.221 can be written as 6 hundreds 4
tens 5 ones 2 tenths 2 hundredth and 1 thousandth
 The steps to write the standard form of a number are as follows:
(i) Write the first number from the given number.
(ii) Add the decimal point after the first number.
(iii) Now, count the number of digits after the first number from the
given number and write it in the power of 10.

Example 1.38:

Express the following numbers in standard form.

(i) 100
(ii) 1200000
(iii) 0.0004

Solution:

(i) 100 = 1 x 10²

(ii) 1.2 x 10⁶
(iii) 4 x 10⁴

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Numbers In Expanded form. .

 When writing numbers in their expanded form we consider the value of the
digit in that number (place value)
 Let us consider a 6 digit number 657891. In the expanded form this number
can be written as: 657891 = 6 × 100000 + 5 × 10000 + 7 × 1000 + 8 × 100 +
9 × 10 + 1

Example 1.39
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Write the following numbers in their expanded form.

(i) 2355
(ii) 0.986

Solutions
(i) 2355 = 2000 +300+50+5
(ii) 0.986 = 0.9+0.08+0.006

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STANDARD FORM OF A RATIONAL NUMBER .

 A rational number ‘p/q’ is said to be in the standard form if the denominator

q is positive and both the integers a and b have no common divisor other
than 1.
Steps to convert a rational number into the standard form:
(i) Write the given rational number.
(ii) Check if the denominator is positive or negative. If it is negative, then we
need to multiply both numerator and denominator by -1, to make the
denominator positive.
(iii) Now, find out the greatest common divisor (GCD) of numerator and
denominator, which could be cancelled.
(iv) Divide the numerator and denominator by GCD.
(v) The obtained number is the Standard form of the given rational number.

Example 1.40 [Tutorial]

(i) Express the following fractions in standard form.

(a) ⅛
(b) ⅜
(ii) Find the approximate value of each of the following
(a) 24 x 0.18

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 (b) 0.025 x 82.14
(c) 242 x 0.45
8.42
(iii) Find the square root of
(a) 0.00000064
(b) 3.6 x 10⁵
(c) 9 x 10²
(iv) Without using a calculator find , correct to one significant figure the
approximate value of.
(a) 19.9 x 20.45
√17

(b) 29.9 x 9.23

√9.53
(v) If x = 3.6 x 10⁴ and y = 8.1 x 10. Find the following values leaving your
answer in standard form.
(a) Xy
(b) √xy
(c) √x
√y
(vi) Find to 1 significant figures the approximate values of the following.
(a) 0.35 x 21.5
(b) 2.67 x 3.24
(c) 0.74 x 3.4
0.082
(vii) A sample of water is observed to contain three types if contaminants A, B
and C.
A has mass 5.457 x 10`³ g
B has mass 9.549 x 10`⁴. g
C has mass 2.388 x 10`2. g
(a) Which of the three contaminants is the heaviest.
(b) Find the difference in mass between A and B in standard form correct
to 2 decimal places.
(c) Find the total mass of the contaminants in standard form correct to 2
decimal places.
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 The End: thank you for your Attention

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