Rounding: Decimal Places

Understanding Rounding

Rounding is all about making numbers simpler to work with while keeping them close to their original value. When rounding, we decide how many decimal places or significant figures we want and follow specific rules to keep our numbers accurate.

Rounding to Decimal Places (DP)

What are Decimal Places?

Decimal places are the digits that appear after the decimal point. Rounding to decimal places means keeping only a specific number of these digits.

Steps for Rounding to Decimal Places

1. Count the decimal places to where you want to round.
2. Look at the next digit (the "checking digit") to decide if you need to round up or stay the same:
   • If the checking digit is 5 or more, round up.
   • If the checking digit is 4 or less, keep the previous digit the same.
3. Drop all digits after the rounding point.

Example

Round $3.4567$ to 2 decimal places

1. Identify the second decimal place: $3.4567$
2. The checking digit is 6 (5 or more), so round up
3. The rounded number is $3.46$