Rounding with decimals to the nearest tenth Essay

Rounding with decimals to the nearest tenth - Essay Example This information should suffice for most students who have a solid grounding in the prerequisites. However, weaker students would require not only a good revision of the place value system, rounding whole numbers, recognizing decimal numbers etc. beforehand but could also be aided by a visual representation for rounding numbers, and if necessary a flowchart of the procedure given above (to prevent procedural errors). For the former, the number line is ideal. An example is given below. The similarity with rounding whole numbers should be stressed. They are not really learning anything new. All they need to be careful with now is the decimal point. Thinking along these lines should be reinforced in demonstrating the rounding procedure using the number line (3 examples are given): Five situations are the most likely occasions of problems for students learning to grasp the concept of rounding to the nearest tenth digit. This is given in order of increasing difficulty based on my own experience of teaching children. 1. What to do when the digit in the hundredths place is 0 (zero). Zero does confuse many students. In this case the student should be reminded that (due to its position in this particular case) it holds no value and it is similar to the situation when the digit in this place is either 1, 2, 3 or 4 i.e. we simply truncate the number at the tenths position e.g. 1.60 would become 1.6 similar to 1.63 also becoming 1.6. 2. What to do when the digit in the hundredths place is 5 (five) – perceived as a ‘halfway’ or ‘middle’ point. In this case, the teacher needs to remind the rule that we round up when this digit is a 5 and it is similar to the situation when the digit in this place is either 6, 7, 8 or 9 i.e. we simply increase the number in the tenths position by 1 and leave out the 5 (the hundredth digit) e.g. 1.65 would become 1.7 similar to 1.67