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Rounding is important in statistics to balance accuracy and readability. There are several rules for rounding numbers in different statistical contexts: 1. Round final answers to one more decimal place than the original data. Round intermediate calculations only at the final step. 2. Round whole numbers by looking at the digit after the rounding place and rounding up or down accordingly. 3. Round probabilities to three decimal places or reduced fractions. Round sample sizes up to the next whole number.

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Naye Tomawis
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78 views

Statistics Report To Distribute

Rounding is important in statistics to balance accuracy and readability. There are several rules for rounding numbers in different statistical contexts: 1. Round final answers to one more decimal place than the original data. Round intermediate calculations only at the final step. 2. Round whole numbers by looking at the digit after the rounding place and rounding up or down accordingly. 3. Round probabilities to three decimal places or reduced fractions. Round sample sizes up to the next whole number.

Uploaded by

Naye Tomawis
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Jamiatul Philippine Al-Islamia

Graduate School
Master in Public Administration

Reporter: Sittie Naima M. Tomawis


Subject: Statistics
Professor: Dr. Abdulgani M. Domado
Rounding means making a number simpler but keeping its value close to what it
was.  It’s like the result is less accurate, but easier to use. Rounding numbers are
important to preserve significant figures in calculations and to record long numbers.
Authors of statistical publications face the challenge of finding a good balance between
accuracy and readability. In this perspective, reporting numbers to the last available
digit is not reasonable because it makes grasping relevant information difficult and may
give a false impression about the actual accuracy of data. For this reason, rounding both
large numbers and long decimals makes publications better readable and avoids
spurious accuracy.
In statistics, the basic rounding rule is that when computations are done in the
calculation, rounding should not be done until the final answer is calculated. When
rounding is done in the intermediate steps, it tends to increase the difference between
the answer and the exact one. But in the textbook and solutions manual, it is not
practical to show long decimals in the intermediate calculations; hence, the values in the
examples are carried out to enough places (usually three or four) to obtain the same
answer that a calculator would give after rounding on the last step.

When performing statistical data analyses, quality professionals are always


challenged to maintain data integrity. When should you round up the answer; when
should you round down? How many significant figures are appropriate for the data set
that has been taken?

Below are a set of simple rules that should help you traverse the perils of
statistical data analysis.

General recommendations

The general recommendations apply to all communication elements of statistical


publications (texts, tables, graphs and maps):
1. Use only the number of digits which are necessary and make sense for the
purpose of a clear communication.
2. Rounding of numbers should take place at the latest phase of data processing and
analysis.
3. For target indicators always use the full precision of the indicator to assess
whether the target has been met. The rounding should not change the situation of
the countries towards the target (to achieve or exceed the target).
4. Big numbers are difficult to grasp. It may be reasonable to round them and use
the words millions, billions, etc.
5. In case of doubt on the number of digits to be used, authors should consult the
Dissemination unit.
6. A disclaimer should be added, when applicable, at the beginning or end of the
publication describing the rounding policy and the reasons for possible
inconsistencies. For instance:

Due to rounding, some totals may not correspond with the sum of the separate figures.

Tables
Consider the following population data extracted from Eurobase:

Luxembourg shows the smallest figure; keeping two significant digits implies rounding
to the “ten-thousands” position, i.e. to 340 000. By rounding all other numbers to this
position we obtain the table:

The unrounded total is 137 836 166 which, according to the rounding scheme applied in
the table, rounds to 137 840 000. This is exactly the sum of the rounded figures in the
table.

Even though the proposed rounding scheme reduces the possibility of inconsistencies
between the sum of rounded numbers and the rounded sum, small differences could still
occur. In this case, it is important to report the disclaimer described above (general
recommendations number 6).

Rules For Rounding Whole Numbers


Rule One. Determine what your rounding digit is and look to the right side of it. If the
digit is 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 do not change the rounding digit. All digits that are on the right-
hand side of the requested rounding digit will become 0.
Rule Two. Determine what your rounding digit is and look to the right of it. If the digit
is 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, your rounding digit rounds up by one number. All digits that are on the
right-hand side of the requested rounding digit will become 0.

Rounding Rules For Decimal Numbers


When rounding numbers involving decimals, there are 2 rules to remember:
Rule One Determine what your rounding digit is and look to the right side of it. If that
digit is 4, 3, 2, or 1, simply drop all digits to the right of it. If the number you are
rounding is followed by 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, round the number up. Example: 38 rounded to
the nearest ten is 40
Rule Two Determine what your rounding digit is and look to the right side of it. If that
digit is 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 add one to the rounding digit and drop all digits to the right of it. If
the number you are rounding is followed by 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4, round the number down.
Example: 33 rounded to the nearest ten is 30
Rule Three: Some teachers prefer this method:
This rule provides more accuracy and is sometimes referred to as the 'Banker's Rule'.
When the first digit dropped is 5 and there are no digits following or the digits following
are zeros, make the preceding digit even (i.e. round off to the nearest even digit).
E.g., 2.315 and 2.325 are both 2.32 when rounded off to the nearest
hundredth. Note:The rationale for the third rule is that approximately half of the time
the number will be rounded up and the other half of the time it will be rounded down.

Examples Of How To Round Numbers


765.3682 becomes:
1000 when asked to round to the nearest thousand (1000)
800 when asked to round to the nearest hundred (100)
770 when asked to round to the nearest ten (10)
765 when asked to round to the nearest one (1)
765.4 when asked to round to the nearest tenth (10th)
765.37 when asked to round to the nearest hundredth (100th.)
765.368 when asked to round to the nearest thousandth (1000th)

Rounding Fractions
Rounding fractions works exactly the same way as rounding whole numbers. The
only difference is that instead of rounding to tens, hundreds, thousands, and so on, you
round to tenths, hundredths, thousandths, and so on.
 7.8199 rounded to the nearest tenth is 7.8
 1.0621 rounded to the nearest hundredth is 1.06
 3.8792 rounded to the nearest thousandth is 3.879
Here's a tip: to avoid getting confused in rounding long decimals, look only at the
number in the place you are rounding to and the number that follows it. For
example, to round 5.3824791401 to the nearest hundredth, just look at the number in
the hundredths place—8—and the number that follows it—2. Then you can easily round
it to 5.38.

Variation Data Round-off
Rule: Round off the answer to one more significant figure than present in the original
data.
Rule: This rule is only valid for final results, not intermediate values.
Example: Cycle-time data for an application receipt to account opening process is as
follows (in days): 4, 4, 3, 5, 1, 5. The mean of these values is 3.66666666…, and should
be rounded to 3.7. Because the original data were whole numbers, we round the answer
to the nearest tenth.

Probability Data Round-off
Rule: Either provide the exact fraction or decimal of the probability or round-off the
final result to three significant digits.
Example: The probability of rolling a ‘4’ with a single die is 1/6 or 0.16666666…, which
would be rounded-off to 0.167. The probability of a coin landing on ‘tails’ is 1/2 or 0.5 –
because 0.5 is an exact figure, it is not necessary to express it as 0.500.

Sample Size Round-off
Rule: When the calculated sample size is not a whole number, it should be rounded up
to the next higher whole number.
Rule: Rounding up a sample size calculation for conservativeness ensures that your
sample size will always be representative of the population.
Example: A sample size calculation determined that 2006.083 data points were
necessary to represent the population. In this case, 2007 data points samples should be
taken.

Rounding to Significant Digits


To round to "so many" significant digits, count digits from left to right, and then
round off from there.
1.239 rounded to 3 significant digits is 1.24
as the next digit (9) is 5 or more
134.9 rounded to 1 significant digit is 100
as the next digit (3) is less than 5

When there are leading zeros (such as 0.006), don't count them because they are only
there to show how small the number is:
0.0165 rounded to 2 significant digits is 0.017
as the next digit (5) is 5 or more

The Rounding Rule for the Mean


The mean should be rounded to one more decimal place than occurs in the raw data.

The Rounding Rule for the Standard Deviation


The rounding rule for the standard deviation is the same as that for the mean. The final
answer should be rounded to one more decimal place than that of the original data.

The Rounding Rule for Probabilities


Probabilities should be expressed as reduced fractions or rounded to three decimal
places. When the probability of an event is an extremely small decimal, it is permissible
to round the decimal to the first nonzero digit after the point… When obtaining
probabilities from [a table], use the number of decimal places given in the table. If
decimals are converted to percentages to express probabilities, move the decimal point
two places to the right and add a percent sign.
The Rounding Rule for the Mean, Variance, and Standard Deviation for a
Probability Distribution
The rounding rule for the mean, variance, and standard deviation for variables of a
probability distribution is this: The mean, variance, and standard deviation should be
rounded to one more decimal than the outcome X. When fractions are used, they should
be reduced to lowest terms.

The Rounding Rule for a Confidence Interval for a Mean


When you are computing a confidence interval for a population mean by using raw data,
round off to one more decimal place than the number of decimal places in the original
data. When you are computing a confidence interval for a population mean by using a
sample mean and a standard deviation, round off to the same number of decimal places
as given for the mean.

The Rounding Rule for a Confidence Interval for a Proportion


Round off to three decimal places.

The Rounding Rule for the Test Value


The test value should be rounded off to the same decimal place as the critical value.

The Rounding Rule for the Correlation Coefficient


Round the value of r to three decimal places.

The Rounding Rule for the Intercept and Slope


Round the values of a and b to three decimal places.

References:

http://www.pmean.com/06/RoundingNumbers.html

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/index.php/Tutorial:Rounding_of_nu
mbers

https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-round-numbers-2312079

https://www.factmonster.com/math/numbers/rounding-numbers-rules-examples-
fractions-sums

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