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Rounding to one decimal place

Part of MathsPlace valueYear 5

Rounding decimals?

When you do not need to speak or write about exact quantities or measures, learning to round decimals can be useful. Rounding decimals is useful when making an estimation.

The process is similar to when you are rounding whole numbers.

Numbers that end in a number smaller than 5 are rounded down to the nearest tenth or hundredth.

Numbers that end in a 5 or a number greater than 5 are rounded up to the nearest tenth or hundredth.

This number line shows how this works for decimals between 1.6 and 1.7.

A number line from 1.6 to 1.7. Going up in steps of 0.01 Numbers from 1.6 to 1.64 are labelled as 'Round down', while numbers from 1.65 to 1.69 are labelled as 'Round up'.
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Quiz: Rounding to one decimal place

Test out your knowledge of how to round decimals with this quiz, then read on to complete the page.

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Rounding decimals using place value charts

A place value chart can be really helpful when rounding decimals.

They help you see the value of each digit within a number.

Take the number 7.54.

It has 7 ones, 5 tenths and 4 hundredths.

A place value table. In the table, the ones place has 7, followed by a point, the tenths place has 5, and the hundredths place has 4.

Let’s round the number 7.54 to the nearest tenth.

Here, 4 hundredths is less than 5 hundredths, so it is rounded down.

When it is rounded down, 7.54 becomes 7.5.

Now, let's try rounding the number 7.56 to the nearest tenth.

A place value table, the ones place has 7, followed by a point, the tenths place has 5, and the hundredths place has 6.

6 hundredths is more than 5 hundredths, so it is rounded up to the nearest tenth.

When it is rounded up, 7.56 becomes 7.6.

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Rounding decimals using a number line

Here is a number line from 6.3 to 6.4. It goes up in intervals of one hundredths.

Explore the slideshow to find out which numbers should be rounded up and down when rounding to the nearest tenth.

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  1. A number line from 6.3 to 6.4. Going up in steps of 0.01.

    , if the hundredths digit is 5 or above, it is rounded up to the nearest tenth.

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Rounding decimals using place value counters

Take a look at these place value counters representing 2.64.

You can use the counters to work out whether you should round up or down to the nearest tenth.

, one hundredth is 0.01 and ten hundredths make one tenth which is 0.1.

Explore the slideshow to find out whether the number should be rounded to 2.6 or 2.7.

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  1. In a place value table, the ones place has two ‘1’ counters , followed by a point, the tenths place has six ‘0.1’ counters, and the hundredths place has four ‘0.01’ counters.

    Here is the number 2.64 represented with place value counters. It has 2 ones, 6 tenths and 4 hundredths.

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Example 1

A place value table showing the ones place has a 9, followed by a point, then the tenths place has a 4, and the hundredths place has a 5.

Round this number to one decimal place.

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Example 2

A number line from 9.8 to 9.9, going up in steps of 0.01.

Round 9.84 to one decimal place.

You can use the number line to help you round.

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Example 3

A place value table. Four counters with a 1 in their centres are in the ones column. Five counters with a 0.1 in their centres are in the tenths column. Six counters with a 0.01 in their centres are in the hundredths column.

These place value counters represent a number. Round the number to the nearest tenth.

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More on Place value

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