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Worked example: Rounding decimals to nearest tenth

Rounding decimals to the nearest tenth can be fun. We can identify the tenths place in the given decimal, 9.564. Then we can look at the digit to the right of the tenths place to determine whether to round up or down. In this case, the answer is to round up to 9.6. Created by Sal Khan and Monterey Institute for Technology and Education.

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  • starky ultimate style avatar for user GaleDay
    why isn't there a twentyeths place??
    (5 votes)
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  • aqualine seed style avatar for user Fatma Mohammed
    hello.... I have couple of questions 1. You round to one place lower so in thousenths place u round up to place next like .5634 so we round to .563 4 is not considered ? 2. In number lines how do u round like how u write the digits is it like .1 to .9 ? 3. I'm having problems with rounding up in thousenths place mostly


    thank you
    (10 votes)
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    • piceratops ultimate style avatar for user watsonworms
      Hello! Hopefully the following answer addresses your 1st and 3rd questions. Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "In number lines how do you round like how you write the digits". Number lines can start and end at any number and have markers at any set distance (1, 0.5, 0.1, etc.). If you can rephrase the question, maybe I can help!

      The digits to the right of the decimal point are the *tenths* place, hundredths place, thousandths place, and ten-thousandths place (remember there's no "onethes" place!). In 0.5634, the 3 is in the thousandths place. When you round to the nearest thousandth, you meant that you want to end up with 0.56#, where you have to figure out what should go in the # place. You figure that out by considering the 4 in the ten-thousandths place.
      If you had 34 and wanted to round to the nearest tens place, you'd say "4 is less than 5, so I'll round down" and end up with 30. The same applies here: 4 is less than 5, so you round down, and end up with 0.563. Considering the 4 is how you get 0.563 instead of 0.564!
      (20 votes)
  • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user Gale
    HI guys! What does the video mean by rounding decimals? why do we have to do that?
    PLEASE REPLY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

    -Abi

    PS: I am 11! And am pretty smart but this does not make sense!
    (11 votes)
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  • duskpin seedling style avatar for user westexchangeschool245
    why are there so many videos now?!?!
    (5 votes)
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  • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user cbrya062012
    What if
    (4 votes)
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  • duskpin ultimate style avatar for user 🐧 MrPenguin2 🐧
    When you have a question for example;
    1267.9876 Round to the nearest hundred.
    It would = 1300, why do you have to get rid of the 6,7 and also the decimal points?
    (4 votes)
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    • hopper jumping style avatar for user 📸 Tom Smith 📷
      Because 6 and 7 are larger than 4, so you must round them up. You get rid of the decimal points because 9,8,7 and 6 are all larger than 4. However, even if it was "round 1267.1234 to the next hundred, it would still be 1300. Why? Well, you must always look for the "decider". What is this? Well, the decider is the number that decides what the number you are rounding will be. For example, when rounding 1643 to the nearest hundred, the decider would be 40. If it was 1643 rounded to the nearest thousand, then the decider would be 600. If... well, you get the idea! :)
      (4 votes)
  • female robot ada style avatar for user Symone Ranea Lanier
    after the decimal point does it start at oneth or tentes and how can you tell what place it it behind the decimal....
    (2 votes)
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  • aqualine sapling style avatar for user The Master
    why am I getting all of the easy questions...?!?!
    (5 votes)
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  • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user vinbomb2011
    pls stop hurting my brain
    (5 votes)
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  • blobby green style avatar for user kgohard
    i dont get it
    (3 votes)
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Video transcript

Round 9.564, or nine and five hundred sixty-four thousandths, to the nearest tenth. So let me write it a little bit larger, 9.564. And we need to round to the nearest tenth. So what's the tenth place? The tenths place is right here. This right here represents 5 tenths. This is the ones place, this is the tenths place, this is the hundredths place, and this is the thousandths place right here. So we need to round to the nearest tenth. So if we round up, this will be 9.6. If we round down, this will be 9.5. And just like regular rounding, when we're not dealing with decimals, you move to one spot, or you look at one place to the right or one place lower, I guess, and you say is that 5 or larger? If it is, you round up, if it isn't, you round down. 6 is definitely 5 or larger, so we want to round up. So this 9.564 becomes 9.6, or we can call this nine and six tenths. And then we're done!