Chapter 1

Estimation and Approximation

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Correct 243.56 to the nearest unit.
A. 240

B.

243

C.

243.6

D.

244

2. Correct 50.997 to 2 decimal places.

A. 50.00

B.

50.10

C.

50.90

D.

51.00

37.5 cm2

D.

375 cm 2

3. Correct 0.037 48 m 2 to the nearest cm 2 .

A. 3.748 cm 2

3.75 cm 2

B.

C.

4.Find the length of line segment XV in the following figure, correct to the nearest cm.

0 1
cm

A. 10 cm

4
B.

10.2 cm

8
C.

10

10.5 cm

11
D.

11 cm

5.Which of the following units is the most suitable for measuring the time required to travel from
Hong Kong to U.S.A. by plane?
A. second

B.

minute

C.

hour

D.

year

6. What is the precision of the following instrument?

mL
36
30
24
18
12
6

A. 5 mL
B. 6 mL
C. 10 mL
D. 36 mL
7. Find the measured temperature and the precision of the thermometer shown below.

10

20

30

40

A. Temperature = 24C, precision = 0.5C

B. Temperature = 24C, precision = 1C
C. Temperature = 24.5C, precision = 0.5C
D. Temperature = 25C, precision = 1C

Chapter 1

Estimation and Approximation

8. Estimate the size of x.

x

A. 90

B.

200

C.

240

D.

270

9. The capacity of a cup is 72 mL and that of a kettle is approximately equal to 10

3
times of
4

the cup. Estimate the capacity of the kettle.

A. 700 mL

B.

770 mL

C.

840 mL

D.

890 mL

10. The height of Jenny is about 90 cm and her brother is taller than her by 5 heads length. If
the length of Jennys head is about 19 cm, estimate the height of her brother.
A. 135 cm

B.

170 cm

C.

175 cm

D.

190 cm

11. The typing speed of Miss Lee is about 38 words per minute. If she needs to type 56 0 words,
estimate the time required.
A. 10 min

B.

14 min

C.

18 min

D.

22 min

12. Trees are planted long the side of a road at regular intervals of approximately 20 m. Estimate
the number of trees to be planted along a road of 3.978 km long.
A. 160

B.

180

C.

200

D.

220

13. Estimate the area of the shaded region.

0.6 cm

0.6 cm

A. 1.8 cm2

B.

3.2 cm2

C.

5 cm 2

D.

9 cm 2

14.The total weight of 40 students is 1 247 kg. If a boat can carry 250 kg only, estimate the
number of boats required to carry all the students.
A. 4

B.

C.

D.

16

15. The price of a pack of chocolate is $4.9. If Johnson has $70, estimate the number of packs of
chocolate he can buy.
A. 10

B.

14

C.

15

D.

18

16. The following is the price list of some food and drink. If Ken wants to buy two boxes of
lemon tea, 1 chicken leg and 3 sandwiches, estimate the total price.
2

Chapter 1

Estimation and Approximation

Item

Dim-sum

Sandwich

Potato Chips

Chicken Leg

Lemon Tea

Price
(per unit)

$4.7

$15.9

$6.8

$10.7

$7.8

A. $60

B.

$65

C.

$69

D.

$75

17. Using the strategy of reformulation, round off each number in the following expression to the
nearest unit.
0.849 + 5.77 3.44
A. 0 + 6 3

B.

1+63

C.

0.8 + 5 3

D.

0.9 + 6 3

18. Write down the third significant figure in 5.004 87.

A. 0

B.

C.

D.

19. What is the number of significant figures in 0.004 411?

A. 2

20. Change

B.

C.

D.

11
into a decimal number, correct to 3 significant figures.
660

A. 0.016

B.

0.017

C.

0.016 6

D.

0.016 7

21. A motor cycle can travel 0.55 km in a minute. Find the speed of the motor cycle in m/s.
(Correct your answer to 3 significant figures.)
A. 0.55 m/s

B.

0.917 m/s

C.

9.17 m/s

D.

550 m/s

22. John spent 11.06 s (correct to 4 significant figures) to complete a 100 m race. Find the
maximum absolute error of Johns record.
A. 0.005 s

B.

0.01 s

C.

0.05 s

D.

0.5 s

23. The weight of a steak should be 442 g (correct to the nearest g) in order to fulfill the quality
control requirement. Which of the following weights is not acceptable?
A. 441.49 g

B.

441.59 g

C.

442.3 g

D.

442.45 g

24. Peter spends 16.2 minutes (correct to the nearest 0.1 minute) on the Internet everyday. Find
the percentage error. (Correct your answer to 2 decimal places.)
A. 0.31%

B.

0.62%

C.

3.1%

D.

6.2%

25. The weight of a bean is 0.35 g with a percentage error of 6%. Find the maximum absolute
error of this measurement.
A. 0.012 g

B.

0.021 g

C.

0.171 g

D.

5.833 g

26. The length of a side of a square tile is 10.42 cm, correct to the nearest 0.01 cm. Find the
range of the true length of the square tile.
A. Between 10.405 cm and 10.435 cm
B. Between 10.415 cm and 10.425 cm
C. Between 10.42 cm and 10.43 cm
D. Between 10.37 cm and 10.47 cm
3

Chapter 1

Estimation and Approximation

Level 1
1. Choose the suitable units from the brackets for the following measurements.
(mm, cm, m, km)
(a) The length of a

(b) The length of a

photo album

(c) The distance between the

basketball field

Kwun Tong station and the

Tsuen Wan station

Tsuen Wan

Kwun Tong

2. Choose the suitable units from the brackets for the following measurements. (mg, g, kg)
(a) The weight of a nail

3.

(b) The weight of an adult

(c) The weight of a battery

Write down the precision of each of the following instruments.

(a)
(b)
0

5 cm

4.Write down the precision of each of the following instruments.

(a)
(b)

5.Find the length of the pencil in the following figure, correct to the nearest
(a) cm.
(b) 0.5 cm.
(c) 0.1 cm.

5 cm

Chapter 1

0
cm

Estimation and Approximation

10

6.Find the volume of water in the cylinder, correct to the nearest

(a) 10 cm 3 .

(b) 5 cm 3 .

(c) cm 3 .

35 cm3

30

30
25

25
20

7.Measure the length of the line segment AB, correct to the nearest
(a) 0.5 cm.
(b) 0.1 cm.
A

8.Correct the following numbers to 2 significant figures.

(a) 94 675
(b) 28.48
(c) 104.59

(d) 0.498 1

9.Correct the following numbers to 3 significant figures.

(a) 237 821
(b) 599.58
(c) 0.001 428
(d) 0.058 39
10. Estimate the values of the following expressions and st ate the estimation strategies used.
(a) 68 + 52 + 98 + 58 + 12 + 31 + 43
(b) 5.97 + 3.21 + 6.09 + 4.89 + 8.81 + 9.19 + 2.51
11. Estimate the values of the following expressions and state the estimation strategies used.
(a) 159.59 0.45

(b) 27.66 3.58 + 119.57 6.29

12. The population of City A is 376 894. Find the population, correct to
(a) 1 significant figure.
(b) 2 significant figures.
(c) 4 significant figures.
13. Write down the number of significant figures in each of the following numbers.
(a) 4.57

(b)

2.090

(c) 5 870

(d) 28 900

14. The length, width and height of a train compartment are 42.5 m, 2.5 m and 3.0 m respectively.
If the length, width and height of a cargo container are 13.3 m, 2.3 m and 2.7 m respectively,
estimate the number of cargo containers that a train compartment can carry.

Chapter 1

Estimation and Approximation

15. The electricity charge of the Chans family is $689.56 this month. If the electricity charge
per unit is $0.38, find the number of units of electricity the Chans family consumed this
month.
16. To which digits are the following measurements corrected? Then find the maximum absolute
error, upper limit and lower limit of each measurement.
(a) 149 km
(b) 25.6 cm
(c) 0.28 mm
(d) 2.718 2 m
17. In an experiment, the temperature of a glass of solution is 48.5C (corrected to the nearest
0.1C). Find the maximum absolute error, upper limit and lower limit of the temperature.
18. In a 100 m race, the record made by May was 14.24 seconds, correct to the nearest 0.01
second. Find the maximum absolute error and the relative error of this record.
19. The length of the classroom is measured to be 18.8 m, correct to 3 significant figures. Find
the maximum absolute error and the percentage error of the measu rement.
(Correct your answer to 3 significant figures.)

20. David uses

22
as the estimation of and then find the percentage error. Firstly, he changes
7

22
into a decimal number and the answer is corrected to 5 significant figures. Then he uses
7

3.141 6 as the true value of . Find the percentage error in Davids estimation.
(Correct your answer to 4 significant figures.)

Level 2
21. The number of pages of a book is about 200. If there is approximately 26 words in a certain
line of a certain page, and there is about 60 lines in that page, estimate the number of words
in the book.
22. In the following figures, the same volume of water is put into cylinders A, B and C
respectively.

Chapter 1
C
B

A
cm3
100
80
60
40
20

cm3
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10

Estimation and Approximation

cm3
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10

(a) Which cylinder is the most precise?

(b) (i) Find the volume of water in cylinder A.
(ii) Find the volume of water in cylinder B.
(iii) Find the volume of water in cylinder C.
23. In Figure A, the area of each square is 1 cm 2 , and in Figure B, each square has an area of
0.25 cm 2 .

Figure A
Figure B
(a) Find the approximate area of the figure in Figure A.
(b) Find the approximate area of the figure in Figure B.
(c) Which one gives a more precise result?
24. Find the approximate area of the figure by using two pieces of square paper A and B. Which
one gives a more precise result?

Square paper A
Square paper B
2
Area of each square = 1 cm
Area of each square = 0.25 cm 2
25. Estimate the values of the following express ions and state the estimation strategies used.
(a) 48.92 +50.01 + 121.99 + 98.84 + 42.13 + 89.48 + 31.82
(b) 3.09 4.21 + 1 871 51
26. The height of Denny is 4 feet 8 inches. If 1 feet 12 inches and 1 inch 2.54 cm, find the
height of Denny in cm. (Correct your answer to 3 significant figures.)
7

Chapter 1

Estimation and Approximation

27. The weight of a box of candies is 785 g. If the relative error of the measurement is

1
,
2 000

find the maximum absolute error of this measurement. (Correct your answer to 3 significant
figures.)
28. The length of the equator of the earth is measured to be 12 756 km. If the percentage error is
0.1%, find the maximum absolute error of this measurement.
(Correct your answer to 2 significant figures.)
29. The distance between the earth and the moon is measured to be 385 000 km. If the
percentage error is 2%, find the range of the true distance.
30. Mary measured the weight of 50 $1 coins and the measurement is 350 g, correct to the
nearest g.
(a) Find the percentage error of this measurement.
(b) If Mary uses the weight of 50 $1 coins to estimate the weight of each $1 coin, find the
maximum absolute error of the weight of each $1 coin.
(c) If the true weight of each $1 coin is 7.02 g, using the result of (b), find the percentage
error of the weight of each $1 coin.
(Correct your answer to 2 significant figures if necessary. )
31. Sammy measures the length of a rope and the measurement is corrected to the neares t 0.1 cm.
(a) Find the maximum absolute error of the measurement.
(b) If the percentage error of the measurement is 1.4%, find the measured length of the rope.
(Correct your answer to 2 significant figures.)
(c) Find the range of the true length of the rope.

Level 3
32. The approximate values of x and y are 7.5 and 3.5 respectively, correct to 2 significant
figures.
(a) Find the upper limits and lower limits of x and y respectively.
(b) Find the upper limit and lower limit of x + y.
(c) Find the upper limit and lower limit of x y.
33. The base and the height of a parallelogram are 12.3 cm and 5.6 cm respectively.
(a) Find the upper limits and lower limits of the base and the height of the parallelogram
respectively.
(b) Find the upper limit and lower limit of the area of the parallelogram.
(Correct your answer to 3 significant figures.)