Hi Michael, yep, darn right, half the people in
the world (including me!) have been rounding wrongly
their entire lives. Very scary. There is and can only
be one correct way of rounding decimal numbers...

Here is an example, assuming rounding to 3 decimal
places, that is 1000 combinations, from 000 to 999.

000 to 499 (first half), 500 to 999 (second half).
There are the first 500 combinations in the first
half, and the second 500 combination in the second
half.

All my life I have been rounding at 555, under the
false impression that 5 is "half way" in decimal
terms... Wow.

I asked my 26 yr old science-degreed girlfriend how
to round and she looked at me like I was stupid.
"5 or more, round up". She was taught correctly.

Now I'm wondering if it is mainly us old-timers
from the dawn of pocket calculators age that were
taught wrong?? Any thoughts, older people??
:o)
-Roman


michael brown wrote:
>
> > roman,
> >
> > i was taught to round up if it's >= 1/2.  little different than you
> system - little easier
> >
> > > 3.12471 = 3.125
> > > 3.12441 = 3.124
> > > 3.1245551 = 3.124
> > > 3.1245556 = 3.125
> >
> > 3.1247 = 3.125   7 >= 5 round up
> > 3.1244 = 3.124   4 <  5 truncate
> > 3.1245 = 3.125   5 >= 5 round up
> > 3.1245 = 3.125   5 >= 5 round up
> >
> > ie: i only check the 4th digit. if it's >= 5 round up.  if not truncate.
> >
> > -pete
>
> Finally some one got it right!  ;-D  Way to go Pete.  If you want to round
> to N decimal places then look at position N+1.  If position (N+1) >4 then
> increment position(N).  That's all there is to it.  You don't have to look
> at anything else.   Hope this helps.  TTYL

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