6.

LIMITS OF ACCURACY


6.1 SIGNIFICANT FIGURES, DECIMAL PLACES AND ESTIMATION.

A. ROUND OFF TO A GIVEN PLACE VALUE.

PLACE VALUE:

- Suppose we want to round off a number to a certain place value. Then the digit at that place value will
be the “rounding digit”.
- Rule for rounding off:
• If the digit after the rounding digit is 4 or less, it is rounded down. So keep the rounding digit
unchanged.
• If the digit after the rounding digit is 5 or more, it is rounded up. So add 1 to the rounding
digit.

Examples:
1) In 2009, the estimated population of Brunei was 388 190. Round off the population
a) to the nearest thousand,
b) to the nearest ten thousand.

2) The area of Brunei is 5 765 𝑘𝑚 ! . Round off the area

a) to the nearest thousand 𝑘𝑚 ! ,
b) to the nearest ten 𝑘𝑚 ! .

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B. ROUND OFF TO A GIVEN NUMBER OF DECIMAL PLACES.

Examples:
1) The interest for a sum of money is $381.048. Round off the interest to
a) 1 decimal place, b) 2 decimal places.

2) Find the value of 0.1035 correct to

a) 2 decimal places, b) 3 decimal places.

3) Find the value of 1.00203 correct to 4 decimal places?

1.0020

C. ROUND OFF TO A GIVEN NUMBER OF SIGNIFICANT FIGURES.

Examples:

1)

2) The equipment cost of a computer room is $35 028. Round off the cost correct to
a) 3 significant figures, b) 4 significant figures.

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3) The volume of a water drop is 0.04602 𝑐𝑚 ! . Round off the volume correct to
a) 2 significant figures, b) 3 significant figures.

D. ESTIMATION.
- One method of estimating the value of an expression is to round off the numbers in the expression to
a certain place value or number of significant figures, and then evaluate the expression.

Examples:
1) Vani bought 3 chickens and 5 bottles of shampoo from a supermarket. A chicken cost $4.95 and a
bottle of shampoo cost $11.95. Estimate the total price of the goods Vani bought.

2) The areas of 3 bedrooms are 13.25 𝑚 ! , 16.03 𝑚 ! and 10.91 𝑚 ! respectively. Estimate the total area
of the bedroom.

3) (pyp 4024/12/O/N/17 qn 10)

By making suitable approximations, estimate the value of
3.98 × 602.3
2.987
Show clearly the approximations you use.

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4) (pyp 4024/12/M/J/17 qn 3)
By writing each number correct to one significant figure, estimate the value of

58.7 × 4.08

19.7!

6.2 UPPER AND LOWER BOUNDS

- For a measurement x,
𝟏
a) absolute error =
𝟐
× 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕
b) lower bound = 𝒙 − 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓
c) upper bound = 𝒙 + 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓
d) 𝑥 can be written as
i. 𝒙 ± 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓, or
ii. 𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 ≤ 𝒙 < 𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅

Examples:
1) Write down the absolute error for a measurement with each of the following scales.
a) b) c)

2)

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 2) On a certain day, the turnover of a cafe is $8 600, correct to the nearest hundred.
a) Find the lower bound and the upper bound of the turnover.
b) Express all possible values of the turnover using an inequality.

3) What is the smallest value and the largest possible value of 62 kg, measured to the nearest kg?

4) ( pyp 4024/12/M/J/14 qn 14)

A rectangular garden has length 35 metres and width 25 metres. These distances are measured correct
to the nearest metre.

a) Write down the upper bound of the length of the garden.

b) Work out the lower bound of the perimeter of the garden.

6.3 UPPER AND LOWER BOUNDARY ADDITION, SUBTRACTION, MULTIPLICATON AND

DIVISION.

ADDING A + B MULTIPLYING A X B

Upper boundary = Upper boundary A + Upper boundary B Upper boundary = Upper boundary A x Upper boundary B

Lower boundary = Lower boundary A + Lower boundary B Lower boundary = Lower boundary A x Lower boundary B

SUBTRACTING A – B DIVIDING A BY B

Upper boundary = Upper boundary A – Lower boundary B 𝑼𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑨

Upper boundary =
𝑳𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑩
Lower boundary = Lower boundary A – Upper boundary B
𝑳𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑨
Lower boundary =
𝑼𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑩

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Examples:

1. N2005/P1/Q17
(a) A rectangular table top is 100 cm long and 75 cm wide. Both lengths are correct to the nearest
5 cm. Find the least possible perimeter of the table.
(b) The area of a rectangular room is 22 m2, correct to the nearest square metre. The width is
3 m, correct to the nearest metre. Find the greatest possible length of the room.

2. N2008/P1/Q11
A rectangular box has dimensions 30 cm by 10 cm by 5 cm. A container holds exactly 100 of these
boxes.
(a) Calculate the total volume, in cubic metres, of the 100 boxes.
(b) Each box has a mass of 1.5 kg to the nearest 0.1 kg. The empty container has a mass of 6 kg
to the nearest 0.5 kg. Calculate the greatest possible total mass of the container and 100
boxes.

3. (pyp 4024/12/O/N/15 qn 9)
At an athletics event, Dave and Ed each threw a javelin. Dave threw 60 m, correct to the nearest 10
metres. Ed threw 61 m, correct to the nearest metre.
a) Write down the lower bound for the distance thrown by Dave.
b) Calculate the greatest possible difference between the distance thrown by Dave and the
distance thrown by Ed.

4. (pyp 4024/12/M/J/16 qn 16)

Anil has some sweets with a mass of 600 g, correct to the nearest 10 grams.
a) Write down the lower bound of the mass of sweets.
b) Anil sells the sweets in small portions. Each portion has a mass of 25 g, correct to the nearest
gram. He sells 10 portions of the sweets. Calculate the lower bound of the mass of sweets
remaining.

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