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What is front-end estimation

2 Answers

6 votes

Final answer:

Front-end estimation is a quick way to approximate the sum or difference of numbers by using the most significant digits and making slight adjustments for the remaining digits.

Step-by-step explanation:

Front-end estimation is a mathematical technique used to approximate the sum or difference of numbers by focusing on the most significant digits. It simplifies the original numbers to make mental calculations quicker and easier. To perform front-end estimation for addition, you take the leftmost digits (the ones with the highest place value) of the numbers you're adding, and then add a rough adjustment for the remaining digits.

Let's say we want to estimate the sum of 456 + 342. Using front-end estimation:

  1. Take the leading digits: 400 + 300 = 700.
  2. Make a rough estimate of the remaining digits. If we round 56 + 42 to 100 for simplicity, our front-end estimate becomes 700 + 100 = 800.

Your estimate would be that the sum of 456 and 342 is approximately 800. This method is particularly useful for making estimates quickly in situations when an exact answer is not necessary, such as estimating the cost of groceries or roughly calculating a budget.

User HyperioN
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5 votes

Answer:

Front-end estimation is a particular way of rounding numbers to estimate sums and differences.

To use front- end estimation, add or subtract only the numbers in the greatest place value. Then add the decimals rounded to the nearest tenth.

Step-by-step explanation:

In front end estimation we are going to replace the original number with a number that is close by but only has one non zero digit. Examples: {20, 300, -50, 1,000, 80,000}. For example take the number 32, the choices to replace it with are 30 or 40 (they both have only one non-zero digit).

User Gerben Jongerius
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