Rounding numbers can cause some confusion for children, especially when they are asked to round the same number to different degrees of accuracy. For example, the number 2,985 rounded to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000 is 2,990, 3,000 and 3,000. Children can find it hard to understand that two answers can be the same and one different.

The key to rounding is to always look at the place value column to the right of the required accuracy. When rounding to the nearest ten this will be the ones column. When rounding to the nearest hundred it will be the tens column and when rounding to the nearest thousand it will be the hundreds column.

Another important point to raise is to ask which is the most appropriate degree of accuracy that you need to round to. How accurate you need to be will depend on the context.

Finally, it seems that most teaching of rounding in schools now avoids the use of the terms, ‘rounding up’ and ‘rounding down’ as this can lead to misconceptions. Our latest sets of pages really help with all the above points and should ensure that children gain an excellent understanding of rounding.