NumberFoundation and Higher

Rounding: GCSE maths practice with worked answers

Show Working has 3 kinds of rounding question for GCSE Maths, for Foundation and Higher. Every question is new each time and comes with the working, step by step.

Rounding questions ask you to round to the nearest 10, 100 or 1000, to a number of decimal places, or to a number of significant figures. The skill is finding the right digit to look at and deciding whether to round up or down.

Coming soon to the App Store

Worked example 1: round to the nearest 10, 100 or 1000

Round 77 to the nearest 10.

77 is between 70 and 80.
Halfway between them is 75.
77 is more than or equal to 75, so it rounds up to 80.

Answer 80

01 / What's covered3 kinds of question

Rounding questions in the app

Each kind makes fresh questions every time, so you can practise as often as you like.

Round to the nearest 10, 100 or 1000Both tiers
Round to decimal placesBoth tiers
Round to significant figuresBoth tiers

Worked example 2: round to significant figures

Round 0.1902 to 1 significant figure.

Significant figures are counted from the first digit that is not zero. Here the first significant figure is 1.
Count 1: the last figure to keep is 1. The next digit is 9.
9 is 5 or more, so round up: the 1 goes up by one.
The answer is 0.2.

Answer 0.2

A common mistake

Counting significant figures from the decimal point. Significant figures start at the first digit that is not zero, so 0.1902 to 1 significant figure is 0.2.

02 / Practise itiPhone and iPad

Practise rounding in Show Working

In the app, open Topics and choose Rounding for ten fresh questions. Ask for a hint if you are stuck, and open the working to see the method one step at a time.