Estimation is an important part of mathematics. But we don’t just make random guesses – we follow systematic methods in order to be able to estimate a number to a certain number of decimal places.

Let’s suppose we wanted to know the square root of 3 to one decimal place. How would we go about it? (do we know what one decimal place means?)

Do we know what is a cube root? How would we find the cube root of 16 to one decimal place?

Exercise

Let’s complete exercise 4D from pages 63 and 64 of the textbook. Remember to be systematic and to show all of your working. You must not use a calculator for this exercise.

The answers are below: