Should an estimate or the exact answer be calculated? Then do the appropriate calculation.

A charity raised money for a 6 week period. The group had a goal of collecting at least $500. They collected $69.75 in each of the first two weeks and $74.35 in each of the last four weeks. Did the charity reach it's goal?

A.
The exact answer is needed to know if the goal was reached.
$436.90 was collected.

B.
An estimate can be used to know if the goal was reached.
70• 2 + 75 • 4 = 440
At most $440 was collected.

Question

Should an estimate or the exact answer be calculated? Then do the appropriate calculation. 
 
A charity raised money for a 6 week period. The group had a goal of collecting at least $500. They collected $69.75 in each of the first two weeks and $74.35 in each of the last four weeks. Did the charity reach it's goal?
 
 A.
The exact answer is needed to know if the goal was reached. 
$436.90 was collected.
 
 B.
An estimate can be used to know if the goal was reached.
70• 2 + 75 • 4 = 440
At most $440 was collected.

davejavous · Answer

In this particular example, calculating it exactly takes no extra time than estimating it, so I would just do it exactly.

Estimation in the real world is pretty much only used if input data is incomplete, for example, when they were halfway through, they collected $69.75 then $69.75 then $74.35 each week respectively.

They could estimate that the next 3 weeks would raise approximately $72 a week, for example.