APPROXIMATION

A. Rounding Off

Here is the general rule for rounding:

1. If the number you are rounding is followed by 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, round the number up. Example: 38
rounded to the nearest ten is 40. ...
2. If the number you are rounding is followed by 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4, round the number down. Example: 33
rounded to the nearest ten is 30.

1. Round off the following numbers to the nearest 100:

(i) 5723 (ii) 2456 (iii) 13535 (iv) 287.98 (v) 5648.7896

2. Round off the following to the indicated number of decimal places.

(a) 6.52 (1) (b) 0.865 (2) (c) 1875.005467 (2)

3. Round off the following to the indicated unit

(a) 146.34 litres to the nearest litre.

(b) 67.866 km to the nearest km. (c) 367.772 to the nearest tenth.

B. Significant figures

In any number all digits are significant except zero, whose significance depends on its position. For
instance:

a) 721,000 has 3 significant figures, 7, 2 and 1. The last three zeros are not significant

b) 700,200 has 4 significant figures, 7, 0, 0 and 2; the two zeros between 7 and 2 are significant.
The last two zeros show us only the position of the decimal point, and therefore are not
significant.

c) 0.0042 has 2 significant figures, 4 and 2; the first three zeros are not significant. They merely
help us to show the position of the decimal point.

d) 0.00420 has 3 significant figures, 4, 2 and the last zero. The last zero is because it shows that
the number is correct to 5 decimal places.

1|Page
 Questions

Round off the following numbers to the indicated number of significant figures.

(a) 63.56 (2) (b) 144.02 (3) (c) 0.00845 (1)

(d) 8674 (1) (e) 9.9988 (3) (f) 99999999 (4)

C. Standard form/ Scientific Notation.

Scientific notation is a form of presenting very large numbers or very small numbers in a simpler
form. As we know, the whole numbers can be extended till infinity, but we cannot write such huge
numbers on a piece of paper. Also, the numbers which are present at the millions place after the
decimal needed to be represented in a simpler form. Thus, it is difficult to represent a few numbers in
their expanded form.

For example, 100000000 can be written as 108, which is the scientific notation. Here the exponent is
positive. Similarly, 0.0000001 is a very small number which can be represented as 10-8, where the
exponent is negative.

The general representation of scientific notation is:

a × 10b ; 1 ≤ a < 10

Scientific Notation Rules

To determine the power or exponent of 10, we must follow the rule listed below:

2|Page
  The base should be always 10
 The exponent must be a non-zero integer, that means it can be either positive or negative

 The absolute value of the coefficient is greater than or equal to 1 but it should be less than 10

 Coefficients can be positive or negative numbers including whole and decimal numbers
Let us understand how many places we need to move the decimal point after the single-digit number
with the help of the below representation.

1. If the given number is multiples of 10 then the decimal point has to move to the left, and the
power of 10 will be positive.
Example: 6000 = 6 × 103 is in scientific notation.
2. If the given number is smaller than 1, then the decimal point has to move to the right, so the
power of 10 will be negative.
Example: 0.006 = 6 × 0.001 = 6 × 10-3 is in scientific notation.

Scientific Notation Examples

The examples of scientific notation are:
490000000 = 4.9×108
1230000000 = 1.23×109
50500000 = 5.05 x 107
0.000000097 = 9.7 x 10-8
0.0000212 = 2.12 x 10-5

Positive and Negative Exponent

When the scientific notation of any large numbers is expressed, then we use positive exponents for
base 10. For example:
20000 = 2 x 104, where 4 is the positive exponent.
When the scientific notation of any small numbers is expressed, then we use negative exponents for
base 10. For example:
0.0002 = 2 x 10-4, where -4 is the negative exponent.
From the above, we can say that the number greater than 1 can be written as the expression with
positive exponent, whereas the numbers less than 1 with negative exponent.

Problems and Solutions

Question 1: Convert 0.00000046 into scientific notation.
Solution: Move the decimal point to the right of 0.00000046 up to 7 places.
The decimal point was moved 7 places to the right to form the number 4.6
Since the numbers are less than 10 and the decimal is moved to the right. Hence, we use a negative
exponent here.
⇒ 0.00000046 = 4.6 × 10-7
Question 2: Convert 301000000 in scientific notation.

3|Page
Solution: Move the decimal to the left 8 places so it is positioned to the right of the leftmost non zero
digits 3.01000000. Remove all the zeroes and multiply the number by 10.
Now the number has become = 3.01.
Since the number is greater than 10 and the decimal is moved to left, therefore, we use here a
positive exponent.
Hence, 3.01 × 108 is the scientific notation of the number.
Question 3:Convert 1.36 × 107 from scientific notation to ordinary form.
Solution: Given, 1.36 × 107 in scientific notation.
Exponent = 7
Since the exponent is positive we need to move the decimal place 7 places to the right.
Therefore,
1.36 × 107 = 1.36 × 10000000 = 1,36,00,000.

Practice Questions
Problem 1: Convert the following numbers into scientific notation.

1. 28100000
2. 7890000000
3. 0.00000542
4. 4679.097
5. 7.107

Problem 2: Convert the following into ordinary form.

1. 3.5 × 105
2. 2.89 × 10-6
3. 9.8 × 10-2
ESTIMATION
Measurement can never be exact even though a true measure does exist. The difference between the
true measure and the measure obtained by measuring is called the error. It is common for the person or
machine carrying out the measurement to have predetermined boundary limits of acceptable error
Suppose we want to draw a line 30 cm long. The length of the line after it has been drawn may actually
lie between 29.5 cm and 30.5 cm and therefore not be exactly 30 cm. In this instance the acceptable
limits of error may have been
between 29.5 cm (the lower limit) and 30.5 cm (the upper limit). The difference between the lower
limit and the upper limit is called the least unit of measure. In this case the least unit of measure is 1
cm.

4|Page
 1
Absolute error is of the least unit of measure. In this case, the absolute error is
2
1
of 1 = 0.5 cm.
2

Relative error and percentage error

The effect of an error on a particular measurement depends on the use of that measurement. For
instance, an error of 1 cm in the length of a rectangular flower bed is not important, but the same error
to an engineer, builder or architect may spoil his work completely.

The relative error is the ratio of the absolute error to the true measurement.

Absolute error
Relative error =
True measurement

5|Page
Relative error can also be expressed as a percentage.

Task

Answer the following questions.

6|Page
7|Page