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rounding

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rounding

In mathematics, a process by which a number is approximated to the nearest above or below with fewer decimal places. For example, 34.3583 might be rounded to 3 decimal places – 34.358 (the 3 is below 5), whereas 34.3587 would be rounded to 34.359 (the 7 is above 5). Similarly, 3,587 might be rounded to the nearest thousand (or to 1 significant figure), giving 4,000. When unwanted decimals are simply left out, the process is known as truncating.

Rounding can produce considerable errors, especially when the rounded numbers are multiplied by other rounded numbers.

For example:

The volume of a cuboid is calculated as 3 × 4 × 5, each dimension being rounded to 0 decimal places, the true dimensions being 3.4 × 4.4 × 5.4. The rounding error is 20.784 out of 80.784, an error of over 25%, which could be an unacceptable degree of accuracy.



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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
And like circles on the water, which, as they grow fainter, expand; so his eyes seemed rounding and rounding, like the rings of Eternity.
Moby Dick LXVIII-CXXXIV by Melville, Herman View in context
I found a little crowd of perhaps twenty people sur- rounding the huge hole in which the cylinder lay.
The War Of The Worlds by Wells, H.G. View in context
As, rounding a dark, wooded point, bathed in fresh air and sunshine, we opened to view a crowd of shipping at anchor lying half a mile ahead of us perhaps, he called me aft from my station on the forecastle head, and, turning over and over his binoculars in his brown hands, said: "Do you see that big, heavy ship with white lower masts?
The Mirror of the Sea by Conrad, Joseph View in context
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