Rounding to ten, hundred, thousand
You learn to round a number to the nearest ten, hundred or thousand.
How to work it out
- Find the digit in the place you are rounding to.
- Look at the digit to the right of it.
- If it is 5 or more, round up.
- If it is 4 or less, round down.
A worked example
Round 347 to the nearest ten
- 347 is between 340 and 350.
- Look at the digit to the right of the tens: the 7.
- That is 5 or more, so round up: 350.
More examples
Round 2449 to the nearest hundred
- 2449 is between 2400 and 2500.
- Look at the digit to the right of the hundreds: the 4.
- That is 4 or less, so round down: 2400.
Round 6531 to the nearest thousand
- 6531 is between 6000 and 7000.
- Look at the digit to the right of the thousands: the 5.
- That is 5 or more, so round up: 7000.
Try it yourself
Round 995 to the nearest ten
Round 4,550 to the nearest hundred
Watch out
You look at the last digit instead of the digit next to the place: for 2449 to the nearest hundred you look at the 9.
First find the place you are rounding to, then look at the digit just to the right of it.
Tips
- When you round to tens, you look at the ones; when you round to hundreds, you look at the tens.
- If it is exactly 5, like 345, round up: 350.
Exceptions
- If you round 1996 to the nearest ten, the 9 goes up and the whole number changes: 2000.
Why it works
Rounding means finding the nearest round number. The digit to the right of the place you round to tells you which one it is. If that digit is 5 or more, you round up.