Praxis1452
Platinum Member
- Jan 31, 2006
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Ok people. Let us get something straight.
If you are going to round 0.5 to 1.0, then you CANNOT round 0.499... to 0.0.
0.4999... = 0.5
They are EQUAL. You can't choose to treat it differently because it looks different. Would you treat 0.5 and 1/2 differently? No, because they are the SAME NUMBER. There is no rounding based on significant digits, because 0.499... can't be approximated. It is excatly 0.5. Can you approximate 0.5 and get 0.49?
If you are going to round 0.5 to 1.0, then you CANNOT round 0.499... to 0.0.
0.4999... = 0.5
They are EQUAL. You can't choose to treat it differently because it looks different. Would you treat 0.5 and 1/2 differently? No, because they are the SAME NUMBER. There is no rounding based on significant digits, because 0.499... can't be approximated. It is excatly 0.5. Can you approximate 0.5 and get 0.49?
Funny. I agree with him. I was taught that .5 rounds to the even number, which could be up or down depending on the circumstances. Thus, 0.5 rounds to 0. 1.5 rounds to 2 and so does 2.5. Etc. :beer:
Its intents and purposes.
"This cliche (meaning "practically") is a shortening of the legal
phrase "to all intents, constructions, and purposes" (found in an
act adopted under Henry VIII in 1547). The corruption "for all
intensive purposes" is frequently reported.
"
destrekor
Lifer
- Nov 18, 2005
- 28,799
- 359
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meh... whatever y'all choose i really could care less..
im providing entertainment for the mod, so that's all that matters
besides, don't really care that i was wrong.. not a fan of math
all i know is that i could lose a point on exams if rounding to a whole number and the answer came out 10.49999... and i rounded it to 11. could also be wrong rounding it to 10. many professors will go one way or the other, mostly in the idea that you ignore the rest of the numbers without giving the whole string of numbers a second thought. that's how i've always done it.
im providing entertainment for the mod, so that's all that matters
besides, don't really care that i was wrong.. not a fan of math
all i know is that i could lose a point on exams if rounding to a whole number and the answer came out 10.49999... and i rounded it to 11. could also be wrong rounding it to 10. many professors will go one way or the other, mostly in the idea that you ignore the rest of the numbers without giving the whole string of numbers a second thought. that's how i've always done it.
DrPizza
Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
IAteYourMother
Lifer
- Nov 3, 2004
- 10,491
- 22
- 81
Technically, if you round it off, it should be 0.5. But if you don't round it off it's zero. It isn't the same for 0.99..., as it is already over .5 for rounding.
Originally posted by: destrekor
general rule of thumb is to only round once in order to keep the answer more accurate.
more accurate, in the long run, is .499 is closer to 0, no if's ands or buts. should it round one way or the other matters not when mathematically you cannot deny it is closer to one side or the other. that's like being on the line but not centered on the line and barely oh barely more on one side than the other side just because you are not exactly center on that line, as if a laser is measuring you. can't comprehend the distance in our heads, but math can. because math is smart like that.
i only rounded once, saying .4999... is equivalent to saying .5
Maybe, but common isn't necessarily right.
From FactMonster:
"1. Some statisticians prefer to round 5 to the nearest even number. As a result, about half of the time 5 will be rounded up, and about half of the time it will be rounded down. In this way, 26.5 rounded to the nearest even number would be 26?it would be rounded down. And, 77.5 rounded to the nearest even number would be 78?it would be rounded up."
FactMonster
I learned this in chemistry, so it's not just statisticians. :beer:
no, its called "common rounding" as opposed to the "round to even method" you're talking about. usually when you just say to round something you will use common rounding. i also learned the round to even method in chem, and i never used it again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rounding
To me, the number of 9s written out are significant, because that tells you the LEVEL OF PRECISION. So I'd round at that level of precision.
0.475 = level of precision is thousandths, so I'd round to 0.48
0.4999 = 0.5
It the level of precision was in the "units" place X.0, then I'd round the 0.5 up to 1.0.
If the decimal is nonterminating, with 9s continuing on forever, then to me that also means the deeper into the series you continue (the further to the right you go) the significance of each additional digit diminishes.
So again I'd round 0.49999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 up to 0.5.
(Unless of course it's a calculation of my own tax liability, in which case it drops to 0.0.)
0.475 = level of precision is thousandths, so I'd round to 0.48
0.4999 = 0.5
It the level of precision was in the "units" place X.0, then I'd round the 0.5 up to 1.0.
If the decimal is nonterminating, with 9s continuing on forever, then to me that also means the deeper into the series you continue (the further to the right you go) the significance of each additional digit diminishes.
So again I'd round 0.49999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 up to 0.5.
(Unless of course it's a calculation of my own tax liability, in which case it drops to 0.0.)
Praxis1452
Platinum Member
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Jaepheth
Platinum Member
- Apr 29, 2006
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theeedude
Lifer
- Feb 5, 2006
- 35,787
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I round it to 0. The common method of rounding only looks at the digit after the one you are rounding to, not the whole number. In this case it's a 4, which is under 5, so you round it to 0.
You can make up a different way of rounding if you want to, as long as you let people know what your method is.
There is quite a lot of discussion of various rounding methods in the computer field, becuase there have been cases of rockets crashing due to rounding errors in computer calculations.
You can make up a different way of rounding if you want to, as long as you let people know what your method is.
There is quite a lot of discussion of various rounding methods in the computer field, becuase there have been cases of rockets crashing due to rounding errors in computer calculations.
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