Lesson 1 — Activity 2: Estimating Quantities in the Millions


Getting Ready


Below once again is the place values for this number.

This is a further review of the place value of numbers.

Try This:


  • Can you read the following number —  3,789,341?
  • Which number is in the hundred thousands place?
  • Which number is in the millions place?
  • How would you write six million seven hundred eighty-five thousand four hundred and sixty-three?


  • You would read this number as three million seven hundred eighty-nine thousand three hundred forty-one.
  • 7 is in the hundred thousands place, 2 is in the millions place.
  • You would write the number as: 6,785,463.    


Do you know who Bill Gates is? He is the owner of Microsoft. As of September 12, 2015, he is worth $73,826,255,811.00. Is it really important that we know exactly how much he is worth? Wouldn't it be just as good to know that he is worth over 73 billion dollars? When you tell someone he is worth $73 billion, you are estimating his worth.


What about the population of Canada? As of April 2015, Canada has an estimated population of 35,249,600 people. Isn't it just as good to say that the population of Canada is about 35 million people?


In this activity, you are going to learn how to estimate quantities in the millions.

This image shows Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft.

  • To round to the nearest million, find and underline the number in the hundred thousands position. If it is 4 or lower, round down; if it is 5 or greater,  round up.

Let's round 6,785,463 to the nearest million:

  • 6,785,463

    (7 is in the hundred thousands place. It is 5 or higher, so round up.)

  • 6,785,463

    becomes

    7,000,000




We will use the populations of provinces to estimate millions.

Let's use the populations of Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan to further practise this.

Province

Current Population

Population to the Nearest Million

Ontario

13,678,700

14,000,000 (because the number in the hundred thousands place is 6)

Quebec

8,214,700

8,000,000  (because the number in the hundred thousands place is 2)

British Columbia

4,631,300

5,000,000 (because the number in the hundred thousands place is 6)

Alberta

4,121,700

4,000,000 (because the number in the hundred thousands place is 1)

Saskatchewan

1,125,400

1,000,000  (because the number in the hundred thousands place is 1)


Images courtesy of www.imagesgoogle.com

Go to the next page to try a Self-check Activity on rounding numbers to the nearest million.