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armyfemme

Member

Registered: 2007-01-12

Posts: 3

Estimating product or quotient

I have gone over this several times, even using the problems with provided answers to figure out where I am going wrong. I am being asked to estimate a product or quotient using mixed fractions. Here is my problem at hand:

17  11/12 divided by 6  1/10

I am not looking for a quick answer, just a hint on how to "estimate" this equation without actually solving the problem (I can go through the steps and actually solve the equation, rather than taking a guesstimate; however, the book calls for an estimation). Any help or advice would be greatly appeciated!!!

V/R

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,711

Re: Estimating product or quotient

Well, 17 11/12 is *just below* 18, and 6 1/10 is *just above* 6

And we know that 18/6 = 3, so the answer will be close to 3.

Now the 18 is too high, so we should expect a little bit lower than 3 as then answer

And 6 is too low (should be 6 1/10), but since we are dividing by it, that will also mean our answer should be a bit lower.

So, perhaps 2.9 would be a good guess.

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"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

armyfemme

Member

Registered: 2007-01-12

Posts: 3

Re: Estimating product or quotient

Nevermind, I am not sure where my mind was... I figured it out. 

armyfemme

Member

Registered: 2007-01-12

Posts: 3

Re: Estimating product or quotient

Well, 17 11/12 is *just below* 18, and 6 1/10 is *just above* 6

And we know that 18/6 = 3, so the answer will be close to 3.

Now the 18 is too high, so we should expect a little bit lower than 3 as then answer

And 6 is too low (should be 6 1/10), but since we are dividing by it, that will also mean our answer should be a bit lower.

So, perhaps 2.9 would be a good guess.

Thank you, for the advice. I believe that I was over-thinking the problem!!!

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