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Calculations 2
In this section we will look at
- rounding numbers up or down
- decimal places and significant figures
- scientific notation
- using calculators with fractions, rounding, significant figures
and scientific notation
- common mistakes with a calculator

Helping you practice

At the end of the sheet there are some questions for you to practice.
Dont worry if you cant do these but do try to think about them. This
practice should help you improve. I find I often make mistakes the
first few times I practice, but after a while I understand better.

Videos
All the examples in this worksheet and all the answers to questions
are available as answer sheets or videos.

Good luck and enjoy!

Videos and more worksheets are available in other formats from
www.mathsupport.wordpress.com
www.mathsupport.wordpress.com Jackie Grant, Birkbeck College, 2011
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1. Rounding numbers
Sometimes numbers are given very precisely, for example,
The population of Wales was estimated to be 2,999,319 in 2010 and we would
say this as 'two million, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, three hundred
and nineteen' but this is not particularly useful as a week later this number will
be different. It is more useful to say the population of Cardiff in 2010 was about
three million 3,000,000.
Saying 'three million' instead of 'two million, nine hundred and ninety nine, three
hundred and nineteen is called rounding and in this case we have rounded to
the nearest million.

Rounding up or rounding down

To decide whether to round up or round down we need to see where the
number is on the numberline, for example

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

Here we have drawn 123 pounds on the number line and we can see that it is
nearer the number 120 than the number 130. So if we round to the nearest 10
it becomes 120 because it is nearest to 120 on the number line.

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

But if we draw the number 129 we can see that it is nearer to 130 than to 120
and so 129 rounded to the nearest 10 is 130 because it is the closest
multiple of ten on the number line.

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Rounding to the nearest ten: the less than 5 rule

Here we will start by rounding to the nearest ten only. If we have 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4
pounds then to the nearest 10 we say that we have 0. But if we have 5, 6, 7, 8
or 9 pounds then rounded to the nearest ten we have 10 pounds.
We can see this on the number line.
0

10

The number 4 is nearer 0 than 10 but the number 6 is nearer 10 than 0. Although
5 is in the middle, we round it to 10.
Using the same ideas, if we have 22, its nearest multiple of 10 is 20 and if we
have 27, then to the nearest 10 it is 30.
20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

Remembering for example, if we have 155 then to the nearest 10 it is 160.

150

151

152

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

Easy way to round

However if we draw numberlines each time we round a number it would take a
lot of time, so instead we can round in the following way.
Let's look at the number 27 and round it to the nearest 10. If we are rounding to
ten we put a ring around the number of tens, which in this case is 2.

27

rounded to nearest 10

30

Now we look at the number to the right (which we underline). If this underlined
number is 5 or higher we round the circled number up one to give 3. We then
set numbers to the right of this circled number to zero.
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Another example:
We want to round 431 to the nearest ten. So we put a ring around the tens and
underline the number to the right

431

rounded to nearest 10

430

Is the underlined number five or more? No, so we don't round the 3 up, we just
leave it as 3, but we change all the numbers to the right to zero to get 430.
Rounding to the nearest 100
If we want to round a number to the nearest 100, then we ring the hundreds
and underline the tens. If there are more than five tens we round up, and if there
are less than five tens we round down. For example

237

rounded to nearest 100

581

rounded to nearest 100

200
600

Rounding to any multiple of ten

If we take a number such as the population of Dundee 141,937 we can round
this to the nearest ten, hundred, thousand etc.

141,937

rounded to nearest 10

141,940

141,937

rounded to nearest 100

141,900

rounded to nearest 1,000

142,000

rounded to nearest 10,000

140,000

rounded to nearest 100,000

100,000

141,937
141,937
141,937

2. Decimal places and significant figures

Dealing with decimal places and significant figures is very similar, so we will
start with decimal places and then move onto significant figures.
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DECIMAL PLACES
When dealing with decimals we use the words decimal point and decimal
place to help us describe the number. Consider the following number.

2.340587
1

decimal point

The decimal point is between the number 2 and 3. If we count the numbers
after the decimal point, this tells us the number of decimal places. In this case
we have 6 decimal places .
The number 3 is in the first decimal place
The number 4 is in the second decimal place
The number 0 is in the third decimal place
The number 5 is in the fourth decimal place
The number 8 is in the fifth decimal place
The number 7 is in the sixth decimal place
Try to work out how many decimal places the following numbers have:
1) 2.351

4) -6.2

2) 9.01356

5) 130.01

3) 14.2

6) 200.1002

The answers are: three, five, one, one, two and four.

Rounding to decimal places

Rounding to a number of decimal places works in exactly the same way as
rounding to 10 or 100.
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Consider the number 2.340587, if we want to round this to one decimal place
we are asking if the number is nearer 2.3 or 2.4. We could draw a number line
to see which is nearer
2.3

2.31 2.32

2.33

2.34

2.35

2.36

2.37 2.38

2.39

2.4

2.340587

Or we could look at the number directly, circle the decimal place we are
rounding to and use the number to the right to tell us whether to round up or
round down. We use d.p. to mean decimal place. So if we round to 3 decimal
places we write 3 d.p.

2.340587

rounded to 5 d.p.

2.34059

2.340587

rounded to 4 d.p.

2.3406

2.340587
2.340587
2.340587

rounded to 3 d.p.
rounded to 2 d.p.
rounded to 1 d.p.

2.341
2.34
2.3

Notice that if we round to a d.p. the extra zeros to the right of the that decimal
place can be left out. But it is important to remember we cant do this when
rounding to tens, hundreds etc. Consider if we have 2,315 then rounded to the
nearest thousand is definitely not 2 but is 2,000.

SIGNIFICANT FIGURES

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In the same way as decimal places counts the numbers after the decimal point,
significant figures count the numbers from the first number in the expression.
Consider the population of Wales again,
second significant figure
seventh significant figure

2,999,319
first significant figure

sixth significant figure

It is usual to write Significant Figure is usually written as s.f. so the

3rd s.f = 9 and the 4th s.f. = 9 and the 5th s.f. = 3
To round this number to any significant figure we could use the numberline as
before but this time we will just round by looking directly at the number.

2,999,319

rounded to 6 s.f.

2,999,320

2,999,319

rounded to 5 s.f.

2,999,300

2,999,319

rounded to 4 s.f.

2,999,000

2,999,319

rounded to 3 s.f.

3,000,000

2,999,319

rounded to 2 s.f.

3,000,000

2,999,319

rounded to 1 s.f.

3,000,000

Notice that we have a slightly special case here. Since there are three nines in
a row when we round to 3 s.f. from 7 s.f. we have to round up from 2,999,319 to
3,000,000. The same is true for rounding to 2 s.f. and 1 s.f.
The questions at the end of this worksheet include plenty of practice at
rounding significant figures and decimal places.

3. Scientific notation
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Scientific notation uses the ideas we started to explore in indices to express

large or small numbers in a convenient way that prevents scientists from
making mistakes in calculations by missing out zeros when writing numbers.
To write numbers in scientific notation
- the number is always re-written as a number bigger than or equal to 1 and
smaller than 10, so that there is only one number to the left of the decimal point
- the magnitude of the number is always written as a power of ten
For example

Where the number in bold is in scientific notation.

A quick trick
An easy way to write any number in scientific notation is to count the number of
places the decimal point has to move. For example if we write the number
338,100,000 we have to move the decimal point 8 places to the left to make
sure that only one number is to the left of the decimal point, giving a power -8:

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
and if we now consider 0.00003193 we see that the decimal point has to move
five places to the right, and so the power is -5.

-1 -2 -3 -4 -5

Once we are able to put any number into scientific notation we can just do the
opposite to get a number from scientific notation into decimal format.
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For example
1)
2)
3)
4)

Rounding with scientific notation

Rounding when the number is in scientific notation is easy if we are happy
rounding with numbers written in their usual format since we apply exactly the
same rules but just to the decimal and not to the power, for example
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
And some trickier ones
1)
2)
3)
Notice how we need to include the significant figures even if they are zero. For
example if I say I have 200 pound to 3 s.f. then I have exactly 200, and not
201 and not 199. But if I have 200 to 2 s.f. then I could have 204 or 195.

4. Using calculators
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Here we continue from the work in 02 Calculations 1 (so we assume that you
are using a scientific algebraic calculator for example any of the Casio FX
range). We first look at using rounding and significant figures and then how to
type numbers in scientific notation in calculators
Significant figures and rounding
When using calculators for complicated calculations it is usual to get an
answer that has as many significant figures as a calculator will allow.
For example 1 inch = 2.54 cm, so 1 cm = 1 2.54 inches and if we enter this into
a calculator we get an answer as 0.3937007874015..... and the number will be
longer if your calculator allows more numbers to be displayed. This reason is
one of the reasons it is important to be able to correctly round numbers.
As a rule of thumb 3 significant figures are good enough for most calculations
(so in this case we would write 1 cm = 0.394 inches) but check or ask to see
how many significant figures a particular calculation needs.
Scientific notation
You can test how your calculator displays numbers in scientific notation by
entering 1,000,000,000 x 1,000,000,000, which should give an answer of
To enter a number in scientific notation you should use the button [EXP] or
[

]. For example to enter the number

type

Common Mistakes: There are easy mistakes to make with calculators

involving missing out brackets. Try the following calculations. If you get different
answers making sure you are using brackets correctly. All answers are to 3 s.f.
1)

4)

2)

5)

3)

6)

5. Now your turn

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Generally the more maths you practice the easier it gets. If you make mistakes
dont worry. I generally find that if I make lots of mistakes I understand the
subject better when I have finished. If you want to see videos explaining these
ideas and showing the answers visit www.mathsupport.wordpress.com

A) Rounding including decimal places and significant figures

1) round 1.38972 to 1 d.p.

5) round 500,419 to 3 s.f.

2) round 14.90012 to 6 s.f.

6) round 0.099501 to 3 d.p.

3) round 0.056443 to 2 s.f.

7) round 10101 to 4 s.f.

4) round 0.01507 to 2 d.p.

8) round 0.992 to 1 d.p.

B) Write the following numbers in scientific notation

1) 230

5) 0.219

2) 1,579

6) 0.00005007

3) 0.00546

7) 999.9

4) 11

8) 0.000100012

C) Write the following numbers as one number in decimal format

1)

5)

2)

6)

3)

7)

4)

8)

D) Carry out the following calculations using your calculator

1)

2)

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3)

6)

4)

7)

5)

8)

E) General word problems involving calculations, indices and rounding

1) The cost of a second hand Skoda car is 5975. What is this amount to the
nearest 10, to the nearest 100 and to the nearest 1,000?
2) The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is the market value of all final goods and
services from a country in one year. In millions of US Dollars the GDP of the UK
is 2,258,565 and the GDP of Japan is 5,390,897. Using the exchange rate of 1 US
Dollar = 0.6430 UK pounds, give both these numbers in pounds sterling in
scientific notation to 3 significant figures.
3) In Berlin in 2009 the 100m world record was broken by Usain Bolt. His time
was 9.58 seconds. This beat the previous world record of 9.69 seconds which
was help by Tyson Gay. How much faster was Usain than Tyson and write this
number in scientific notation.
4) Most bacteria species are spherical, and have a radius of about a
micrometer. We can write 1 micrometer in scientific notation as
volume of a sphere can be calculate from the formula Volume =

. If the
, where

the symbol r=radius, and =3.14, calculate the volume of a single bacteria in
and give your answer to 3 s.f in scientific notation
5) For certain drugs the dosage for children will depend on their weight and
their temperature. For a fever less than
weight of the child. Above

the dose is 5mg per kilogram of

the dose is 10mg per kilogram of weight of the

child. The dose should be taken every 8 hours. If a child weighs 11kg and has a
temperature of

how many milligrams of the drug do they take in one day.

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