What is 10% of 6,872 feet? Find the exact answer and an estimate using front-end rounding.

Explanation

To find the exact answer, we will move the decimal point in 6,872 one place to the left. To find an estimate, we will move the decimal point in an approximation of 6,872 one place to the left.

We move the decimal point one place to the left because 10% of a number means 0.10 of (times) the number.

Solution

Exact answer: Move the understood decimal point in 6,872 one place to the left

10% of 6,872 feet = 687.2 feet

Estimate: To estimate 10% of 6,872 feet,we can front-end round 6,872 to 7,000 and f ind 10% of 7,000 feet .If we move the understood decimal point in 7,000 one place to the left, we get 700.Thus,

10% of 6,872 feet ≈  700 feet (because 10% of 7,000 = 700)