Sunday, June 7, 2009

Lesson Five: Rounding Off Numbers

Very often, the multiple-choice answers on the math portion of water treatment facility operator certification exams are supplied in a "rounded off" form. For this reason, the answers on certification tests may be very close, but not identical, to the answers that appear on your calculator screen. When selecting a multiple-choice answer on your certification exam, choose the multiple-choice answer that is closest to the figure on your calculator screen.

EXAMPLES OF ROUNDED-OFF NUMBERS:

310,020 gallons might be written as 310,000 gallons.

1206 cubic feet might be written as 1200 cubic feet.

65.34 mg/l might be written as 65 mg/l.

8.247 MGD might be written as 8.2 or 8.25 MGD.

Note: Math questions and answers on introductory-level water treatment operator certification exams are not intended to be particularly tricky. There will generally be enough difference in the multiple-choice answers on these exams, so there will be no doubt as to which answer is correct.