How would you round 0.5 with round-to-even?

Question

In the round-to-even method, is 0.5 an exception? My teacher joked about how he turned in a paper where he rounded 0.5 down to 0 and then the professor said, "After all this work you end up with 0? Then you didn't do anything." I was wondering if 0.5 is really an exception and rounds up to 1 or if the story was simply a joke. Thanks!

Answer 1

You want to round upwards.  Always!  Say you have 65, you would want to round up to 70.  Always round up if it is five or higher.  If it is below five, you round down.

Answer 2

0.5 is the reason for various rounding scenarios. With lots of numbers, rounding to even averages out. Some businesses would only round up. In the case cited the prof was CORRECT! At least one digit must have been significant in the work! It may be a joke, but the answer points out that one must be careful in playing games with the BOSS!

Answer 3

no you always round to 1