Question

Round 3500 to the nearest thousand.
(a) 3000
(b) 3600
(c) 4000
(d) 4500

Answer 1

Hint: Large numbers can be rounded to the nearest 1000 or 10000. There is a condition that determines the multiple of thousand which is nearest to the given number. We will use the concept of place value and determine the digit that will indicate whether the nearest multiple of thousand is greater than or lesser than the given number.

Complete step-by-step answer:
The given number is 3500. Let us consider the digits from the right. The place value of 0 in units place is 0. The place value of 0 in tens place is also 0. The place value of 5 in hundreds places is 500. The place value of 3 in thousands places is 3000. Now, to determine the nearest multiple of thousand from the given number, we have the following condition:
If the hundreds place has a digit that is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 4, that is $0\le \text{ digit in hundreds place }\le \text{4}$, then the nearest multiple of thousand from the given number is less than the given number. To obtain this multiple, we have to change the digit in the hundreds place to 0 and the rest of the digits that have a place value lower than hundreds should also be 0.
If the hundreds place has a digit that is greater than or equal to 5 and less than or equal to 9, that is $5\le \text{digit in hundreds place}\le 9$, then the nearest multiple of a thousand from the given number is greater than the given number. To obtain this multiple, we have to change the digit in the hundreds place to 0 and the rest of the digits that have place value lower than hundreds should also be 0 and we have to add 1 to the digit in the thousands place.
The given number is 3500. So, according to the condition mentioned above, the nearest multiple of thousand is greater than 3500. We will change the digit in hundreds places to 0 and add 1 to the digit in thousands places. So, the nearest thousand to 3500 is 4000.
Hence, the correct option is (c).

So, the correct answer is “Option (c)”.

Note: We should be familiar with the conditions for rounding a given number. The conditions for rounding numbers to any power of 10 are similar to those for rounding to the nearest thousand. It is essential that we know the concept of place values since we will use it to round any given number to the nearest power of 10. The place value of 0 in a number is 0 at any place. Students can go wrong by choosing the correct answer as option (a), but it won't be valid since the digit in hundreds places is not less than 5.