What is the difference between estimation and rounding? Will the State publish an approved estimation procedure?
Rounding refers to a technique used to make a reasonable approximation of a number. Rounding is done at the end of a process (for example, round your answer to the nearest tenth). Reasonableness is dictated by a variety of factors. Estimating is a technique used to facilitate working with cumbersome or awkward numbers. The number or numbers are rounded before performing the specified operation. In order to arrive at an estimate as close to the actual answer as possible, with a series of numbers, it is not necessary to round all of the numbers (unless instructed to do so), only the cumbersome ones. The final answer in an estimate is not rounded – this would result in an answer even further from the actual answer.
