Decimals to Whole Numbers

[Lauren Lewis3L]

When trying to find what number to multiply by does it have to be an exact whole number or can it be like for example 3.1, can we just say or believe it to be the whole number 3?

[Bilal Pandit 1J]

Usually you want a whole number, but most of the time it doesn't get to an exact number, so I think plus or minus 0.1 should be fine.

[RasikaObla_4I]

usually you have a margin of error or plus or minus .1. it also depends on what you are using it for. FOr empirical/molecular you can round like 3.8 to 4 (from what I have been told)

[Leslie Magana 4C]

For 3.1 I was told by my TA to just round to 3

[PriscillaLi_3G]

How far away from the whole number can the number be to still be able to round? Like, if I got 1.89, could I round that to 2?

[Charisse Vu 1H]

I believe that rounding from 3.1 to 3 would be okay if you are solving for empirical formulas. If the number is about .1 away from a whole number, I don't believe that it would hurt to round it to a whole number. However, rounding to whole numbers in other problems besides solving for empirical/molecular formulas would not be the best move, since empirical formulas and molecular formulas deal with ratios of atoms, while other questions are asking for more exact numbers.

[ThomasNguyen_Dis1H]

It also helps if you don't round at each intermediate step. Just plug it all into your calculator at once. If you do come across a number like 3.1, + or - .2 should be sufficient enough to round down or up.