Final answer:
Rounding to the nearest hundredth is the equivalent of rounding to two decimal places, focusing on the second digit after the decimal point. Operations like addition and subtraction require rounding to the least precise measurement, using the smallest number of decimal places found in the numbers being used.
Step-by-step explanation:
Rounding to the nearest hundredth is the same as rounding to two decimal places. When we round to the hundredth, we are focusing on the second digit after the decimal point. For instance, if we have the number 201.867, a calculator might show this as 201.867, but if we round to the nearest hundredth, we concern ourselves with the first number after the hundredths place, which is 7 in this case. Because 7 is greater than 5, we round up, resulting in a rounded number of 201.87. This process ensures that our final answer is not more precise than the data we started with, reflecting the certainty of our original measurements.
Additionally, in operations like addition and subtraction, we round our result to match the least precise measurement in the operation. This means we round to the same number of decimal places as the measurement with the least number of decimal places. For multiplication and division, we use significant figures for rounding. In our example of rounding, 201.867 becomes 201.87 after rounding to the hundredth, which maintains the appropriate level of precision for the calculation.