Are compatible numbers and rounding different And in what ways?

Answer 1

Yes, they are a bit different, but not by much. In compatible numbers, you pick numbers that are close to make it easier to solve your problem. Here's an example: Say a Mom or Dad has $187.45 to spend buying Christmas presents for their three kids. They decide that they want to spend about the same amount of money for each kid, but it doesn't have to be exact. You could get a pencil and paper out and divide 187.45 by 3 and get 63.483333333... OR you could just round down 187.45 to 180 and divide it by 3 much easier. (Probably in your head!) The reason 180 and 3 are compatible numbers is because they divide easier since 3 goes into 18 evenly.

Rounding is a bit more accurate depending on how close you need to round. 187.45 can be rounded to 187.5 if you are are rounding to the nearest tenth, or 187 if you're rounding to the nearest whole number, or 190 to the nearest tens or 200 for the nearest hundred.