Question

Your college campus has many more students who drive to campus than it has parking spaces. Even if you arrive early, it is difficult to find a parking space on any Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. The college is planning for future growth and in assessing the current parking problem estimates that 825 additional parking spaces will be needed. There are several parcels of land that will each accommodate a 180 -car parking lot. a. Estimate the number of parking lots that are needed. b. Determine the actual number of parking lots that are needed by first dividing 825 by 180. c. Was your estimate too high or too low?

Short answer

Was our estimate of the number of parking lots too high or too low? Answer: Five parking lots are needed to accommodate the 825 additional parking spaces. Our estimate was accurate and neither too high nor too low.

Step-by-step solution

Estimate the number of parking lots needed

To estimate the number of parking lots needed, divide the total number of additional parking spaces required, which is 825, by the number of spaces each parking lot can accommodate, which is 180. You can round off the answer to the nearest whole number. Estimate = 825 / 180 ≈ 4.58 ≈ 5

Calculate the exact number of parking lots needed

Now, let's find the actual number of parking lots needed by dividing the total number of additional parking spaces required by the number of spaces each parking lot can accommodate: Actual number of parking lots = 825 / 180 ≈ 4.58

Round up the actual number of parking lots needed

Since it's not possible to build a fraction of a parking lot, we need to round up to the nearest whole number. In this case, the actual number of parking lots needed is: Actual number of parking lots = 5

Compare the estimate with the actual number

Our estimate was 5 parking lots, and the actual number of parking lots needed is also 5. Since the estimate and the actual number match, the estimate was accurate and neither too high nor too low.