Question

Kanya and Mali are hoping one day to travel to Thailand to attend the lantern festival, called Yi Peng, in the town where their mother grew up. Last November, about 54,600 people attended the festival in the town. Kanya estimates this number of people as 6 x 105 people, and Mali estimates the number as 5 x 104.
Which statement is true about whose estimate was better?
Kanya's estimate is better because 54,600 has 5 digits.
Kanya's estimate is better because 105 is equivalent to 10,000.
Mali's estimate is better because 5 x 104 is equivalent to 50,000.
Mali's estimate is better because 54,600 rounds up to the nearest 10 thousand.

Answer 1

Mali's estimate is better because 5 × 10^4 = 50,000, which is much closer to 54,600 than Kanya's 6 × 10^5 = 600,000. (54,600 rounds to 50,000 to the nearest ten thousand, not "up.")