Estimating Tips

Lessons

Estimate a Tip: Learn

A tip or gratuity is an amount of money that is given to a worker such as a waiter/waitress, hair stylist, performer, or any other who performs a service for you. It is especially important to tip waitstaff at restaurants because they might make most of their money from tips.

A common tip amount is 20% of the cost of the meal or service. Generally a tip is determined based on the total bill which includes the cost of the meal and sales tax, but it can be useful to estimate the tip before ordering your meal in the following way:

  • Round to the most significant digit (the left-most digit).
  • Move the decimal 1 place to the left.
  • Multiply by 2.

For example, to estimate the tip on a $16.75 meal:

  • Round $16.75 to $20 (the left-most digit was 1, but the following digit was 6, so round up)
  • Move the decimal $2.00
  • Multiply by 2 to get a $4.00 tip

If you were to calculate the actual tip, you would use $16.75*0.20 = $3.35, which is a little bit less because we rounded up. However, the estimation can be useful if you are on a limited budget and trying to quickly decide what to order from the menu.

Estimate Tip: Practice

What is the estimated tip?

00:00

Note: Your answer should begin with a dollar sign and be rounded to the nearest cent.

What is the estimated tip for a
$ meal?

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