Lesson 3 — Activity 3: Estimating Costs in Everday Contexts
Lesson 3 — Activity 3:
Estimating Costs in Everyday Contexts
Getting Ready
The ability to be able to estimate costs in your everyday life is important. Whether you live at home or on your own, it is important to be able to budget your money properly, and using estimation will help you to find out whether or not you have enough
money to pay your monthly bills or buy something that you have been saving up for. In this lesson, you will work with estimating costs in the real world when shopping for goods.
Courtesy of Pixabay
When you move out on your own, you will need to buy some common cleaning supplies. For example, window and floor cleaners, sponges, and a bucket. Let's take a look at the cost of some of these items and use our skills with decimals and math operations to estimate the cost and calculate the exact cost of some items.
Courtesy of Pixabay
spray cleaner |
$ 1.97 |
sponges |
$ 1.99 |
mop and bucket |
$11.99 |
Let's estimate the cost of each item by rounding to the nearest dollar.
spray cleaner rounds up to
|
$ 2.00
|
sponges round up to
|
$ 2.00
|
mop and bucket round up to
|
$12.00 |
Have you noticed that in your everyday shopping you usually have to round up when estimating cost? This is because the store wants you to think it is cheaper when it's really not! It's only cheaper by a cent or two. Seeing a price of $1.99 tricks you into believing the item is only a dollar. But when you round up, you realize it is closer to $2.00!
Now you try it! Estimate the costs of each of the items below by rounding to the nearest dollar.
paper towels: $5.98
plastic cutlery: $2.67
napkins: $1.25
Courtesy of Pixabay
paper towels: $5.98 rounds up to $6.00
plastic cutlery: $2.67 rounds up to $3.00
napkins: $1.25 rounds down to $1.00
Self-check!
Try this!
Try this activity where you will practice estimating costs while shopping. Answer these questions on your own first. When you are finished, click on the tabs below to check your answers.
The following are estimations of product prices. Add the estimated prices.
Tooth Paste $1.59 rounds up to $2.00
Deodorant $3.88 rounds up to $4.00
Floss $2.63 rounds up to $3.00
Mouth Wash $4.28 rounds down to $4.00
Estimated total $13.00
Spray Cleaner $1.97 rounds to $2.00
Sponges $1.99 rounds to $2.00
Mop & Bucket $11.99 rounds to $12.00
Estimated total $16.00
Spaghetti $2.98 rounds up to $3.00
Sauce $3.69 rounds up to $4.00
Bread $1.99 rounds up to $2.00
Salad Dressing $2.23 rounds down to $2.00
4 light bulbs $0.89 rounds up to $1.00
Toilet paper $7.99 rounds up to $8.00
Paper Towel $1.99 rounds up to $2.00
Tissue $5.38 rounds down to $5.00
Estimated total $16.00