what is the difference in estimation and truncation of a fractional answer?
Estimation and truncation are two different methods used to approximate or round fractional answers.
Estimation involves finding a rough or approximate value for a fractional answer. It is often used to quickly estimate a value without the need for precise calculations. To estimate a fractional answer, you can round the given numbers to the nearest whole number or decimal place and perform simple mental calculations. For example, if you are asked to estimate the value of 1/3 + 2/5, you can round 1/3 to 0.3 and 2/5 to 0.4, then add them together to get an estimated answer of 0.7.
On the other hand, truncation involves simply cutting off or ignoring the decimal part of a fractional answer. It is a method used to obtain a whole number approximation of a fraction without rounding. To truncate a fractional answer, you would discard the decimal part, or alternatively, keep only the whole number part. For example, if you divide 7 by 2 (7/2), the exact answer is 3.5, but if you truncate it, you would get the approximation of 3.
In summary, estimation involves rounding and performing mental calculations to approximate a fractional answer quickly, while truncation involves simply removing the decimal part, resulting in a whole number approximation of the fraction.