Sometimes it is enough to have a basic idea or rough estimate of how much of something someone has.
You can round numbers to give a rough idea of an amount.
One way to do this is with a number line.
Example 1: Round 489 to the nearest hundred.
Examining the number line, we can see that 489 is more than half way from 400 to 500. Therefore 500 is a good estimate (rounded value) of 489 to the nearest hundred.
A Note of some importance: The Bible does not teach numerical exactness or precision. That is not something the Bible is trying to teach. However, the Bible is faithful and accurate in all that it does try to teach, namely God's plan of salvation for us. This is important to note as we enter into the next example.
Example 2: In Acts 2, Peter is empowered by the Holy Spirit to preach Jesus to the Jews in Jerusalem. Because of the Spirit's work through Peter and the other disciples, Acts 2:41 tells us "about three thousand" were added to the church that day. This is an example where approximation (or rounding) is used.
Though we do not know the exact number, let us say the the disciples would have used the number three thousand (3000) if they were within a hundred (100) people of that number. Lets look at the number line.
This number line shows us the range of possibilities. If the disciples were concerned about being accurate to the hundreds place, then the number of people that joined the church that day could range from greater than 2900 to just less than 3100.
Example 3: David has had a professional blog for about a month now and he has 8,456 subscribers. He wants to buy his provider's mailbox service so he can email his subscribers from a more professional platform. His provider offers him a few options.
Plan 1: 1,000 subscription plan.
Plan 2: 10,000 subscription plan.
Plan 3: 50,000 subscription plan.
Plan 4: 100,000 subscription plan.
Plan 5: unlimited subscriptions plan.
Questions
What is the minimum plan that David needs to purchase in order to meet the needs of his existing subscribers?
Should he buy this plan? Why or why not?
What is 8,456 rounded to the nearest thousand? (Use a number line if you need to.)
Multiply the answer you got in question 3 by 12, this is how many subscribers he could have in a year. Does this influence which plan he needs to buy? Why or why not?
How does planning ahead help David?
What does God think about planning? [Have your students do some scripture searches using their phones or computers.]
John Partridge
December 18th, 2018
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