MR - Estimating Crowds Lesson

Estimating Crowds Lesson

Most of us have a jar in our house full of loose coins...Ever wonder how much money that jar is worth? Estimation is the process of arriving at an approximate answer to this question and other questions. Rounding numbers is also an estimation method. You might round a number without even being aware that you are doing so. You may say you are 17 years old, rather than 17 years 5 months, or that you will be home in about a half-hour, rather than 25 minutes. You will find estimation to be equally valuable in your work in this course. Making mistakes with a calculator or computer is easy. Estimation can tell us whether the answer displayed for a computation makes sense. Performing computations using rounded numbers is one way to check whether an answer displayed by a calculator or a computer is reasonable.

Estimating the number of people in a large crowd is quite challenging and often leads to controversies. One method sometimes used is to focus on a small section of the crowd, such as a rectangular area.

Estimating Large Crowds Video

Now let's watch the video on estimating large crowds. 

Estimating Crowds: More Information

In addition to the methods mentioned above, one way to estimate the number of people participating in a march is to assign someone to a spot on the sidewalk with the job of counting the number of marchers who pass in 1 minute. Then multiply this number by the minutes it takes for all marchers to pass that spot.

Use this method to estimate the students who attend your school (or a certain building such large shopping store) on a given morning. Count the number of students entering the building in 1 minute and multiply this number by the minutes it takes the entire group to enter.

 

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