Why do we round five up when it’s exactly in the middle?
In: Mathematics
In technical scientific papers, numbers ending in a five *and any non—zero digit after* get rounded up because non—zero digits increase the value of the number and bring it closer to the next higher number.
However, if there is a number to be rounded which ends in a five *and does not have any further non—zero digits*, a tie—breaking rule is applied to avoid skewing any mathematical calculations with the data.
One common example of this is a rule called “***round half to even***”. Under this, 3.350 rounds to 3.4, but 3.250 rounds to 3.2. This ensures that rounding does not bias the data.
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