Detecting Errors and Reasonableness

Detecting Errors and Reasonableness

Introduction

Estimation helps identify errors by providing a quick, approximate answer. If a reported result is far from the estimate, the calculation or recorded value should be checked.

Mia opens her running app, which adds up her miles for the week and shows a total of 172 miles. Before sharing it, she checks whether the total makes sense.

Her app shows six runs in miles: 2.8, 3.1, 2.9, 3.2, 2.7, and 2.5. To estimate, she uses compatible numbers, which are nearby numbers that are easy to calculate.

Each distance ro...