Rounding Calculator

Round to a Number of Decimal Places

Rounded Value

1.23

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Includes your inputs and results for this calculation, plus any additional calculations you've compared.

How This Calculator Works

Rounding replaces a number with a simpler, nearby value — to a set number of decimal places, a set number of significant figures, or the nearest multiple of another number. Enter a number and pick which of the three you need.

  • Decimal places rounds everything after a certain position past the decimal point (e.g. 3.14159 to 2 decimal places is 3.14).
  • Significant figures keeps a set number of meaningful digits starting from the first non-zero digit, regardless of where the decimal point falls (e.g. 123,456 to 3 significant figures is 123,000).
  • Nearest multiple rounds to the closest multiple of any number you choose — not just powers of 10 (e.g. rounding 47 to the nearest 5 gives 45… actually the nearest 10 gives 50).

The Formula

All three use the same core idea — divide by the target unit, round to the nearest whole number, then multiply back:

Rounded Value=round(NumberUnit)×Unit\text{Rounded Value} = \text{round}\left(\frac{\vA{\text{Number}}}{\vB{\text{Unit}}}\right) \times \vB{\text{Unit}}

where “Unit” is 10⁻ᵈᵉᶜⁱᵐᵃˡ ᵖˡᵃᶜᵉˢ for decimal places, an order-of-magnitude-based unit for significant figures, or simply the multiple you entered for nearest-multiple rounding.

Worked Example

    1. Rounding 123,456 to 3 significant figures: 123,000. 2. Rounding 123,456 to 0 decimal places: 123,456 (already a whole number). 3. Rounding 123,456 to the nearest 1,000: 123,000. 4. Rounding 1.2345 to 2 decimal places: 1.23.

Source: Standard "round half up" and significant-figures rounding conventions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between decimal places and significant figures?

Decimal places count digits after the decimal point specifically. Significant figures count meaningful digits starting from the first non-zero digit, regardless of where the decimal point falls — so 123,456 rounded to 3 significant figures is 123,000, not a number with only 3 digits after a decimal point.

How do I round to the nearest multiple of a number that is not a power of 10?

Use the "nearest multiple" option and enter whatever number you want to round to — 5, 25, 0.5, or any other value. The same divide-round-multiply approach works regardless of what the multiple is.

Why did rounding 1.005 to 2 decimal places not give exactly what I expected?

This is a well-known quirk of how computers store decimal numbers in binary floating point — a number like 1.005 isn't stored as exactly 1.005 internally, so rounding it can occasionally land on the value just below or above what you'd expect by hand. It affects virtually all calculators and spreadsheets that use standard floating-point math, not just this one.