Estimating Angles
Estimate the size of the given acute angles in degrees.
Moon Measure
Estimate (do not measure) the distance from A to B on the image of the surface of the moon.
Estimating
Estimation the number of sheep in the meadow (but don't count them or you will fall asleep)
Estimating Percentages
Estimate the percentages represented by the diagrams.
Cliff Diving Monkeys
Test your timing skills by clicking on the monkeys so that they jump off the cliff at just the right time to land in the boat.
Rough Answers
An exercise on rounding values in a calculation to find an approximate estimate of the answer.
Estimate Powers and Roots
Estimate the powers and roots of the given positive numbers.
Snooker Angles
An online game for one or two players requiring an ability to estimate angles as bearings.
Animal Records
Match the values and the units to the animal world records.
Estimation Golf
Play a round of golf using your estimation skills rather than golf clubs.
Estimate Enormous Numbers
Learn how to use the powers of 10 to make amazingly fast estimations of big numbers with this animated explanation.
Counting Crowds
Find out how statisticians use density samples to estimate their statistics.
Estimate Powers and Roots
Estimate the powers and roots of the given positive numbers.
Air Traffic Control
Work out which aircraft are in danger of colliding from their positions and direction of travel. An exercise in understanding bearings.
Angle Estimates
Estimate the sizes of each of the angles then add your estimates together.
Big Bieber
If the dimensions of an object double, its volume increases by a factor of eight.
Big Order
Estimate or calculate then put the large numbers in order of size.
Breathe Easily
How many breaths have you taken in your lifetime?
Calc-A-Hundred
A game for two players requiring a calculator and thinking skills.
Estimating
Estimate the lengths of four lines then add your answers together.
Estimating Percentages
Estimate the percentages of full circles and rectangles the sectors represent.
Hot Estimates
Estimate the number of chillies in the photograph.
Moon Lengths
Estimate the distances shown on this photograph of the moon's surface.
Peanuts and Buttons
Two questions involving estimating a quantity.
Pie Chart
An exercise in estimating what the sectors of a pie chart represent.
Positions Please
Stand at the point between the classroom walls to represent a given number.
Red Lines
Either estimate the lengths of the red lines or, if you know how, calculate how long they are.
Second Holiday
Estimate then work out the period of time equal to the given number of seconds.
27 items are currently in this category.
Teachers might find the complete Estimating Topic List useful.
The ability to estimate values is an often overlooked part of Mathematics. Estimating lengths, weights, time, angles and solutions to problems should be practised regularly. Pupils should make sensible estimates of a range of measures in relation to everyday situations.
A basic ability to estimate quantities without counting, like when choosing a checkout line at the supermarket, can be called a person’s innate ‘number sense’. Practising this kind of estimating may actually improve a pupil’s ability in other areas of mathematics. This is one of the findings of research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Practising estimation can be a lot of fun when presented as a game, challenge or group activity and provides the opportunity for the teacher to introduce variety in the mathematics classroom.
