To estimate how many students in the entire school prefer animated movies based on Tan's survey, we can use the proportion of students who preferred animated movies in the survey and apply it to the total student population.
In the survey, 48 out of 120 students preferred animated movies.
First, we calculate the proportion of students who preferred animated movies in the survey:
\[ \text{Proportion} = \frac{\text{Number of students preferring animated movies}}{\text{Total number of surveyed students}} = \frac{48}{120} \]
Now, simplify that:
\[ \frac{48}{120} = \frac{2}{5} = 0.4 \]
Next, to find the estimated number of students in the entire school who prefer animated movies, we apply this proportion to the total number of students:
\[ \text{Estimated number of students preferring animated movies} = 0.4 \times 628 \]
Calculating that:
\[ 0.4 \times 628 = 251.2 \]
Since we cannot have a fraction of a student, we round this to the nearest whole number, which is 251.
Therefore, the approximate number of students in the school who prefer animated movies is 251.