'Plausible Estimation' Estimates for a Million Tasks - Set #1 Malcolm Swan Mathematics Education University of Nottingham Malcolm.Swan@nottingham.ac.uk Jim Ridgway School of Education University of Durham Jim.Ridgway@durham.ac.uk The aim of this assessment is to provide the opportunity for you to: · develop a chain of reasoning that will enable you to estimate quantities to an appropriate degree of accuracy · choose suitable units for your estimate · communicate the assumptions upon which your estimate is based. ____________________________________________________ 1. Breathing How many days would it take you to breathe a million times? Assumptions Reasoning 2. Paper Clips Suppose a chain is made from a million paper clips. How far will it stretch? Choose suitable units for your answer. Assumptions Reasoning 3. The brick wall Suppose you use a million household bricks to build a wall four feet high. How long would the wall be? Assumptions Reasoning 4. The dripping faucet A faucet drips a million times. How many buckets will it fill? Assumptions Reasoning 5. Writing a million How long would it take you to write out all the numbers, from one to a million? Remember that some numbers have more digits than others! Assumptions Reasoning