Skill: Round whole numbers to a specified place

To round a whole number to a specified place:

1. Find the digit in the place you are rounding to.
2. Look at the digit immediately to its right. This is the determining digit.
3. If the determining digit is less than $5$, keep the rounding digit the same.
4. If the determining digit is $5$ or greater, increase the rounding digit by $1$.
5. Change all digits to the right into zeros.

Example: Round $48{,}372$ to the nearest thousand.

• The thousands digit is $8$:

$$48\boxed{8}372$$

• Look at the digit immediately to its right, the hundreds digit: $3$.
• Since $3<5$, keep the $8$ the same.
• Change the digits to the right into zeros.

Therefore,

$$48{,}372\approx 48{,}000$$

This makes sense because $48{,}372$ is closer to $48{,}000$ than to $49{,}000$.