Monday, October 20, 2014

Round your answer to nearest cent: $1.29 or $1.30?

Tweeted (@dmarain) the above a couple of days ago. Moderate reaction so far which I find fascinating since I've done my own "random" survey...

SCENARIO
6th gr student calculates an *exact* answer of $1.29. Directions read "round ans to nearest cent." Student writes $1.30 in the answer box on the test. Teacher notes $1.29  was correct but the answer in box was wrong. No credit for problem...

COREFLECTIONS

Making too big a deal of this? After all "rounded to nearest cent" means "round to nearest hundredth". So $1.29 is already rounded to the nearest cent whereas $1.30 is rounded to the nearest tenths or dime, right? Adults know that, right? Students should know, right? Certainly higher-achieving HS students know that, right? Hmm...

Maybe you should try your own informal survey. Let me know...

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