Estimating - maths weekly focus

1. ESTIMATING
IT IS NOT ALWAYS EASY OR NECESSARY TO GIVE AN EXACT VALUE, SO ESTIMATIONS CAN BE
MADE.
ESTIMATING IS A WAY OF MAKING A CALCULATION MORE MANAGEABLE. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU
WERE GOING TO BUY 12 ITEMS THAT COST £28.99 EACH THEN AN ESTIMATE OF THE TOTAL
MIGHT BE £300 (10 LOTS OF £30).
AS THERE ISN'T ONE SET WAY TO ESTIMATE, PEOPLE MIGHT ROUND THEIR VALUES IN SLIGHTLY
DIFFERENT WAYS.
A NUMBER CAN BE ROUNDED IN DIFFERENT WAYS DEPENDING ON ITS SIZE. FOR EXAMPLE, TO
THE NEAREST:
•WHOLE NUMBER
•TEN
•HUNDRED
•THOUSAND

2. WHY DO
STUDENTS
NEED TO KNOW
HOW TO
ESTIMATE?
When asked to approximate or estimate,
students work out an accurate answer
During their exam, they will lose marks
for this
Estimating will allow them to roughly
check their answers in their head and
rework if necessary
Enables budgeting in life – shopping,
bills, can I afford that new phone?!

3. THINGS TO TRY
WITH
STUDENTS
When asking them to calculate something,
get them to estimate first
Analyse their estimate
against the actual
measurement:
How far out were they?
When they estimate again
are they more accurate?
Ask them to estimate how long something will
take them to complete
Analyse the actual time
taken against the
estimate
How close were they?
What impacted their time?

4. THANK YOU FOR
SUPPORTING YOUR
STUDENTS TO
IMPROVE THEIR SKILLS
PLEASE CONTACT
ENGLISHANDMATHS@PLUMPTON.AC.UK IF YOU NEED
MORE IDEAS OR SUPPORT WITH EMBEDDING THIS INTO
YOUR LESSONS THIS WEEK