Order of magnitude estimations are quick, back of the envelope estimations up to an order of 10. These can help check answers by making sure your solution is on the same order of magnitude as the variable values.

Learning Objectives

Summary: Learning Objectives

Students will be able to…

  1. Differentiate between order of magnitude and "times as much".
  2. Perform back of the envelope estimations.

BoxSand's Resources

Text

Orders of Magnitude

Orders of Magnitude basically corresponds to counting zeros. More concretely, the powers of 10. For example, how many orders of magnitude larger is 1000 than 1? Well, count the zeros (or powers of 10). 1000 has 3 more zeros, so it is 3 orders of magnitude larger. 

Video

Orders of Magnitude (3 min)       

Orders of Magnitude (3 min)

Web Resources

Text

Stuff and stuff

Videos

videos of stuff

Simulations

simulations here

Practice

Practice Problems

Recommended example practice problems 

Problem Solving Help

Tips and Tricks

Use scientific notation to help you make order of magnitude estimations! If two numbers written in scientific notation are raised to the same power of 10, they are the same order of magnitude.