Rounding asks which mark a number is closer to. It is a question about distance.
Step 1: Let's Learn
Read it, or press Listen and follow the words.
Try it first
The number 68 sits between 60 and 70. Which is nearer?
Stuck is fine. Let’s Learn shows the way next. Got it first time? You can jump ahead to Watch an Example.
Find the two neighbors first
To round 3.47 to tenths, notice it sits between 3.4 and 3.5.
Then decide
3.47 is past halfway, so it is nearer 3.5.
Exactly halfway
A number landing exactly on the midpoint rounds up. That is a convention, agreed so everyone matches.
Step 2: Try It Yourself
Tap and try it out.
37
37 sits past halfway, so it rounds to 40.
Step 3: In Real Life
The gas pump
The pump shows 12.468 gallons. The receipt says 12.47. It is rounded to the nearest hundredth. Nobody pays for a thousandth of a gallon.
Step 4: Watch an Example
One step at a time.
Watch Ana Round to the Nearest Tenth
Ana rounds 8.26 to the nearest tenth.
- Step 1
The two tenths either side of 8.26 are 8.2 and 8.3.
Watch Dev Round to the Nearest Hundredth
Dev rounds 5.743 to the nearest hundredth. He starts, and you finish.
- Step 1
The two hundredths either side of 5.743 are 5.74 and 5.75.
Step 5: Your Turn
Practice makes it stick.
The Race Time
Problem 1 of 12
Maya runs 400 meters in 58.36 seconds. Round her time to the nearest tenth.
seconds
The Fuel Charge
Problem 2 of 12
A fuel charge comes to $7.384. A cent is one hundredth of a dollar. Round the charge to the nearest cent.
dollars
Round It
Name the two neighbors first. Then decide.
Problem 3 of 12
Round 6.84 to the nearest tenth.
Problem 4 of 12
Round 0.518 to the nearest hundredth.
Problem 5 of 12
Round 7.25 to the nearest tenth.
Find the Mistake
One line on each page is a slip. Find it, then fix it.
Problem 6 of 12
Leo rounds 4.671 to the nearest tenth. One line is a slip. Which?
Leo's answer for 4.671 to the nearest tenth
- 14.671 lies between 4.6 and 4.7
- 2halfway is 4.65
- 34.671 is before 4.65
- Answer4.671 → 4.6
Problem 7 of 12
What should Leo's answer be?
Problem 8 of 12
Priya rounds 1.836 to the nearest hundredth. One line is a slip. Which?
Priya's answer for 1.836 to the nearest hundredth
- 11.836 to the nearest hundredth
- 2the neighbors are 1.8 and 1.9
- Answer1.836 → 1.8
Problem 9 of 12
What is 1.836 to the nearest hundredth?
Which Way?
Pick the way that starts right.
Problem 10 of 12
Sam needs 0.749 to the nearest tenth. Which way?
Problem 11 of 12
Ana needs 9.96 to the nearest tenth. Which way?
Shade Both Grids
Build it, then check.
Problem 12 of 12
Shade 0.27 on the first grid. Shade the tenth it rounds to on the second.
0/100 = 0.00 = 0.0
0/100 = 0.00 = 0.0
Both cover the same squares, so they are equal however they are written.
Step 6: Quick Check
Show what you know.
Question 1 of 2
Round 7.63 to the nearest whole number.
Question 2 of 2
What question does rounding really ask?
Ready for more?Optional. Past the lesson, for anyone who wants it.
Stretch 1 of 2
A number rounds to 5.6 at the nearest tenth. What is the smallest it can be?
Stretch 2 of 2
Make a decimal: 0 point, then 3, 4 and 7. Use each digit once, in any order. Which number rounds to 0.35 at the nearest hundredth?
What You Learned
- Rounding asks which mark is nearer.
- Find the two neighbors, then the midpoint.
- Exactly halfway rounds up by agreement.
For the grown-up
This lesson is where the child rounds decimals to any place using a number line. The pattern that built whole numbers continues to the right of the decimal point without changing. Each place is a tenth of the one before, which is the same rule read the other way.
Watch for the decimal point being treated as a separator between two whole numbers. It is a marker for where the ones place ends, nothing more.
Say the place names aloud: three and four tenths, not three point four. The words carry the structure that the notation hides.
The slip this lesson targets is rounding twice: 0.749 becomes 0.75, and 0.75 becomes 0.8. Rounding happens once, from the number as it was given. Priya's slip is the other common one, rounding to the wrong place because the neighbors were taken a place too far left. Ask which two marks the number sits between before anything else, every time.
Same question as always — Rounding 3.472 to the nearest hundredth means asking whether it is closer to 3.47 or 3.48. The halfway point is 3.475, and 3.472 is below it, so the answer is 3.47. The number line reasoning is identical to whole-number rounding.
The deciding digit — Look at the digit immediately right of the place you are rounding to. Here that is the 2 in the thousandths, which is below 5, so round down. Digits further right cannot change the outcome — 3.4749999 still rounds to 3.47.
Digits to the right are dropped, not zeroed — Rounding 3.472 to hundredths gives 3.47, not 3.470 — though writing 3.470 is not wrong, just unnecessary. This differs from whole numbers, where the places to the right must be filled with zeros to preserve size. Decimal places to the right of the last digit contribute nothing.
Why rounding decimals matters — Money rounds to hundredths, measurements round to whatever the instrument can resolve, and calculators produce more digits than any real measurement justifies. Reporting 3.4718294 meters when your ruler reads to centimeters claims a precision you do not have.
Same rule, past the point — Round 3.457 to the nearest hundredth. It lies between 3.45 and 3.46. Look one place right: the thousandths digit is 7. Five or more, so go up. 3.46 Exactly the rule you used for whole numbers.