25
Skills Workshop 9
Rounding Numbers
Many times, you will not need as precise of a number as the calculation provides. For example, if
you are calculating millions of dollars, it may not be important to know the result down to the dollar.
Instead, you may round the number to the nearest ten thousand or even hundred thousand. Also, when
working with decimals, especially multiplication and division operations, the fi nal answer may have
several more decimal places than you need.
To round a number, locate the value place to which you want to round. Then, look at the digit to
the right of this place. If the digit to the right is 5 or greater, add 1 to the value place to which you are
rounding. If the digit to the right is less than 5, do nothing to the value place to which you are rounding.
See It
Round the number 23.987293 to four decimal places.
Step 1: Locate the fourth decimal place
(23.987293).
Step 2: Identify the value of the digit to the right of 2. This digit is 9, which is
greater than 5
(23.987293).
Step 3: Add 1 to 2 and eliminate all digits to the right of the result (23.9873).
Check It
Round the following numbers to two decimal places.
1. 12.86905746
2. 152.19574
3. 76.559539
4. 4.129834
5. 98.9936756
6. Round to the nearest one dollar: $1,386,345.56.
7. Round to the nearest one hundred dollars: $1,386,345.56.
8. Round to the nearest one thousand dollars: $1,386,345.56.
9. Round to the nearest one hundred thousand dollars: $1,386,345.56.
10. Round to the nearest one million dollars: $1,386,345.56.