Final answer:
The number 472,558 rounded to the nearest hundred thousand is 500,000. You look at the ten thousands place to decide whether to round up or down; a '7' in this place means you round up.
Step-by-step explanation:
To round the number 472,558 to the nearest hundred thousand, you need to look at the ten thousands place of the number. Here, the ten thousands digit is a '7', which means you round up. Therefore, the number 472,558 rounded to the nearest hundred thousand is 500,000.
When rounding to larger places such as ten thousand or hundred thousand, we use significant digits to determine if the number should be rounded up or down. In this case, since the digit in the ten thousands place (7) is greater than or equal to 5, we round up.
If you are rounding a number like 4,572,876 to the nearest hundred thousand, you would also round up to 5,000,000 because the ten thousands digit is a '7'. However, if you were rounding a number like 4,301,326, you would round down to 4,300,000.