NUMERICAL CONCEPT 1(Indices

and logarithms)

Learning objectives

By the end of this topic,the learners should be able to

• Give approximate answers to calculations
• Write numbers to a given number of significant figures
• Differentiate between significant figures and decimal places
• Express numbers in standard form ♣
• Identify base number and index
• State and apply the laws of indices in calculations
• Use a calculator to find powers and roots
• State and apply the laws of logarithms in calculations

Approximation

Rounding off

• To round off whole numbers, find the place value of the rounding digit and look at the digit
just to the right of it. if the digit is less than 5(e.g 4,3,2,1,0),do not change the rounding
digit but change all the digits to the right of the rounding digit to zero. If the digit is greater
than or equal to 5(e.g 5,6,7,8,9), add one to the rounding digit and change all the digits to
the right of the rounding digit to zero.

• To round off decimals, find the place value of the rounding digit and look the digit right
of the digit, if it is less than 5(e.g 4,3,2,1,0), do not change the rounding digit but drop all
digits to the right of it. If that digit is more or equal to 5(e.g 5,6,7,8,9), add one to the
rounding digit and drop all digits to the right of it
Example
Round to the nearest ten

(a) 52 (b) 56 (c) 524 (d) 528

1
 SOLUTION
(a) (c)
5 2 5 2 4
+ 0 + 0
5 0 5 2 0

(b) (d)
5 6 5 2 8
+ 1 + 1
6 0 5 3 0

Example
Round to the nearest hundred

(a) 528 (b) 563 (c) 5328 (d) 7356

SOLUTION
(a) (c)
5 2 8 5 3 2 8
+ 0 + 0
5 0 0 5 3 0 0

(b) (d)
5 6 3 7 3 5 6
+ 1 + 1
6 0 0 7 4 0 0

1 Exercise Set

1. Round off the numbers to the nearest number indicated in the bracket

(a) 489(10) (c) 6489(1000) (e) 48999(100) (g) 45234489(10000)

(b) 489(100) (d) 949(10) (f) 125789(10000) (h) 9989967(1000)

2. A company was reported to have made a profit of sh 93 678 563 .New vision gave the figure
to the nearest 1000,000 and Daily monitor to the nearest 10000.What was the difference
between the rounded off figures
3. Taibah international school paid sh 1155800 for the online lessons.Round off to the nearest
10000
4. The ministry of Health has recorded the following covid 19 cases in some districts.

2
 District Buikwe Kampala Wakiso Elegu
Covid 19 cases 49 395 256 299

(a) Write the cases for each district to the nearest 10

(b) Obtain the total number of Covid 19 cases and write them to the nearest 100