median
don steward
mathematics teaching 10 ~ 16

Tuesday 1 June 2010

estimating things (I)













  • how many peas do you think will fit on a tablespoon (not teaspoon)?
  • how many students in this school?
  • how many pages in an average novel?
  • how far do you think it is from London to Athens?
  • how many bricks in an average house?

they do say that if you ask for the lowest and highest anyone thinks it could reasonably be, then calculate the geometric mean of these two values, you get a pretty good estimate

it might be worth testing ....

some answers:
  • about 50 peas per tablespoon
  • it depends
  • about 300 to 400 pages per novel
  • 1,500 miles from London to Athens
  • 15,000 bricks per house

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