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Here are some specific activities, investigations or visual aids we have picked out. Click anywhere in the grey area to access the resource. The options may go beyong the scope of this level of the Functional Skills requirements.

• Estimating Angles Estimate the size of the given acute angles in degrees.
• Rounding Ten Round the numbers to the nearest whole number or the given power of ten.
• Rounding Video A reminder of how to round numbers to significant figures, decimal places and to the nearest power of ten.
• Rounding DP A self marking exercise requiring students to round numbers to a given number of decimal places.
• Rounding SF A self marking exercise requiring students to round numbers to a given number of significant figures.
• Estimating Estimation is a very important skill. Use this activity to practise and improve your skills.
• Rounding Snap If the last card put down equals the previous card to the nearest whole number then all players race to shout SNAP!
• Estimating Percentages Estimate the percentages represented by the diagrams.
• Animal Records Match the values and the units to the animal world records.
• Estimation Golf Play a round of golf using your estimation skills rather than golf clubs.

Here is an exam-style questions on this statement:

• "(a) Use your calculator to evaluate the following expression to five significant figures." ... more

Click on a topic below for suggested lesson Starters, resources and activities from Transum.

• Estimating The ability to estimate values is an often overlooked part of Mathematics. Estimating lengths, weights, time, angles and solutions to problems should be practised regularly. Pupils should make sensible estimates of a range of measures in relation to everyday situations. A basic ability to estimate quantities without counting, like when choosing a checkout line at the supermarket, can be called a person’s innate ‘number sense’. Practising this kind of estimating may actually improve a pupil’s ability in other areas of mathematics. This is one of the findings of research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Practising estimation can be a lot of fun when presented as a game, challenge or group activity and provides the opportunity for the teacher to introduce variety in the mathematics classroom.
• Rounding The objective of rounding is often to get a number that is easier to use, at the cost of making it less precise. This approximation is very important in dealing with answers to mathematical problems and making them relevant to the real world. Rounding to a given number of decimal places or significant figures is required of pupils. See also the "Approximating" Starters. Once the principles of rounding have been understood, a fun way to practise the skills is to play "Rounding Snap".