How to Round Amounts of Money

A Step-by-step Guide to Rounding Amounts of Money

Here is a step-by-step guide to rounding amounts of money:

Step 1: Understand the Basics of Money

Money in dollars and cents has a decimal point. For example, $2.75 means 2 dollars and 75 cents. The first digit after the decimal point represents tens of cents (from 10 cents up to 90 cents), and the second digit represents single cents (from 1 to 9 cents).

Step 2: Identify the Place Value You Are Rounding To

Are you rounding to the nearest dollar, or to the nearest ten cents?
If you’re rounding to the nearest dollar, you’ll be looking at the digit in the tenths place (the first digit after the decimal point).
If you’re rounding to the nearest ten cents, you’ll be looking at the digit in the hundredths place (the second digit after the decimal point).

Step 3: Apply the Rounding Rule

If the digit you’re looking at is 5 or more, you round up, which means you add 1 to the number in the place you’re rounding to.
If the digit is 4 or less, you round down, which means the number in the place you’re rounding to stays the same.