<p>Lets say, for a grid-in question, the answer is 23.3 . What if I end up putting 23.2? Would I be marked wrong?</p>
<p>Yes, you would be marked wrong.</p>
<p>Oh boy… the operation to get the answer was 11.67 x 2 . Instead of rounding 11.666666 to 11.67, I just made it 11.6 . Should I usually just round to the nearest hundredth in every problem that involves decimals?</p>
<p>I believe that the directions say that decimals must be rounded enough to fill up all the spaces. Check your practice book (I assume you have one); the directions should be in there somewhere (math section or in a practice test).</p>
<p>Actually, it depends a lot on the question. There are quite a few grid-ins that actually allow for a range of correct responses. So, if we’re talking about a question that does look for a range, 23.3 and 23.2 COULD both be correct. But, if it’s a question with only one right answer, then only 23.3 would be correct.</p>
<p>Now for your second post, on a repeating decimal, you should fill up all the available spaces, and yes, you should round up to the 7.</p>
<p>On Grid-Ins, you may find it helpful to keep values in fractional (exact) rather than decimal form for precisely the reason you are asking about. </p>
<p>In your particular case, the decimal 11.6666666 came from the fraction 35/3 which, when multiplied by 2, would give you 70/3, a correct (and less error-prone) answer to this question.</p>
<p>The rule on Grid-Ins when it comes to decimal answers is that they must be as decimally accurate as possible. So, for instance, if you got .66666666 (repeating) as your answer (perhaps by dividing 8 by 12), the only two acceptable decimal answers would be .666 and .667. Other answers such as .6, .66, .67, and so on would be incorrect. Now, if you were to answer 2/3 (the reduced form of 8/12), this would also be perfectly acceptable and, again, preferable because there would be no chance of making some rounding error in your decimal. (By the way, gridding in 8/12 would also be perfectly acceptable; you do not need to reduce fractions on Grid-Ins.)</p>
<p>Granted, working with fractions may occasionally be more tedious than working with decimals and, of course, if you’re working with finite decimals (like .25 or .4, for instance), you may be fine keeping things in decimal form. Either way, remember that rounding decimals on Grid-Ins is never a good idea, as you may wind up making your final answer less decimally accurate than it must be! </p>
<p>As a final note, for those of you who are not already aware of this, the vast majority of scientific calculators will convert decimals to fractions for you! For instance, on the TI-83, if you want to convert an on-screen decimal to a fraction, simply hit the “Math” button, then “Enter,” then “Enter” again and the calculator will show the fractional equivalent. On non-graphing calculators, the decimal to fraction conversion usually looks something like F<>D and can be accessed by using the “2nd” function key. </p>
<p>Also, this function on your calculator will reduce fractions for you. For example, if you enter 15/65 then immediately press the “Math-Enter-Enter” sequence on a TI-83, the calculator will return 3/13.</p>