A walking path is 20 1/2 miles long. you walk 1/3 of path by noon. estimate the distance

Question

A walking path is 20 1/2 miles long. you walk 1/3 of path by noon. estimate the distance

Answer 1

The way that you answer this problem depends on your teacher.

To estimate is rarely-taught, but it is super easy. (1/3) of 21 = 7.

Now, how close a value is that?

(1/3(20 1/2) = (1/3)(41/2) = (41/6) = 6 5/6. Yes, I'd trust the estimate of 7 miles.

Also note that 1/6 mile = (1/6)(5280 feet) = 880 feet.

A football field is 100 yards = 300 feet. So, the difference between the estimate and the precise actual is a little less than 3 football fields.

Now, to really impress your teacher, mention that 3.14 is only an estimate of the value of pi. A better estimate is 3.1415926535897932384626433...