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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1997  > April  >
In the Classroom
Rounding Numbers: Why the "New System" Doesn't Work
W. Robert Midden
Chemistry Department, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403-0213
Cover
April 1997
Vol. 74 No. 4
p. 405
Abstract
This paper explains a correction to the rounding rule previously published in this Journal. The earlier article reported that the best way to round numbers is to always round up when the first digit dropped is 5. However, this will lead to accumulation of error when errors are averaged. A rounding strategy that leads to less error is to round up when 5 is followed by any nonzero digits, but to round even when 5 is followed by zeros or no other digits. By rounding the last kept digit to an even number, half the time the digit is increased and half the time it is kept the same so that errors tend to cancel when averaged.

See Letter re: this article.
More Information
*  Citation
 Midden, W. Robert. J. Chem. Educ. 1997 74 405.
*  Keywords
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 July 28, 1999
June 23, 2005
Link to Letter added (May 2004).
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