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Here are some specific activities, investigations or visual aids we have picked out. Click anywhere in the grey area to access the resource.

• Rounding Ten Round the numbers to the nearest whole number or the given power of ten.
• Rounding Video A reminder of how to round numbers to significant figures, decimal places and to the nearest power of ten.
• Rounding DP A self marking exercise requiring students to round numbers to a given number of decimal places.
• Rounding SF A self marking exercise requiring students to round numbers to a given number of significant figures.
• Rounding Snap If the last card put down equals the previous card to the nearest whole number then all players race to shout SNAP!
• Rough Answers An exercise on rounding values in a calculation to find an approximate estimate of the answer.
• Upper and Lower Bounds Video A reminder of how to find the limits of accuracy of rounded values.
• Upper and Lower Bounds Determine the upper and lower bounds when rounding or truncating quantities used in calculations.

Here are some exam-style questions on this statement:

• "A number, \(n\), when rounded to two decimal places is 7.32" ... more
• "The Glacier Ski Resort has this sign showing the safety limit for each cable car:" ... more
• "Ayden is marking out the pitch for a ball game in a large field." ... more
• "The height of a tree is 9 metres to the nearest metre." ... more
• "Ralph used his calculator to work out the value of C, the circumference of a circle. Unfortunately he put his banana down on his desk so that it covered most of the calculator screen. All that can be seen are the first two digits of the answer." ... more
• "Minerva's Revenge, the longest rollercoaster in the Funville Theme Park, takes 95 seconds (to the nearest 5 seconds) to complete one circuit of the 2280 metre long track." ... more
• "Calculate the upper bound for the length of an edge of the cube if the long diagonal (connecting opposite vertices) is 62 metres correct to the nearest metre. You must show all your working." ... more
• "(a) Calculate the upper bound for the value of A giving your answer correct to 6 significant figures if:" ... more

See all these questions

Here is an Advanced Starter on this statement:

• Fermi Problem
  The classic Fermi problem using standard estimation techniques more

Click on a topic below for suggested lesson Starters, resources and activities from Transum.

• Approximation Approximating a quantity is often to get a value that is easier to use or understand, at the cost of making it less precise. This approximation is very important in dealing with answers to mathematical problems and making them relevant to the real world. Rounding to a given number of decimal places or significant figures is required of pupils. The error introduced when approximating a value may be further magnified with subsequent calculations. Understanding this error and how it can be minimised is another important aspect of this topic. See also the "Rounding" and "Estimating" Topic pages.