What dose it mean when it says round to the nearest square mile

51.3 = 51

51.5 = 52
51.7 = 52

half or above is next higher.

When it says "round to the nearest square mile," it means that you should round the given value to the closest whole number that represents an exact square mile. To understand how to do this, you need to know that a square mile is a unit of area measurement equal to a square with sides that are each 1 mile long.

For example, if you have a value of 9.5 square miles, you need to round it to the nearest whole number that represents an exact square mile. In this case, the closest whole number is 10 because 10 is the lowest whole number that represents an exact square mile.

Similarly, if you have a value of 3.2 square miles, you would round it down to 3 because 3 is the closest whole number that represents an exact square mile.

In summary, when instructed to round to the nearest square mile, you should round the value to the closest whole number that represents an exact square mile.

When it says to round to the nearest square mile, it means you need to round the given value to the nearest whole number value of square miles.

To understand this, let's consider an example:
Suppose you have an area of land that measures 17 square miles. Rounding to the nearest square mile would mean determining whether to round up or down to the closest whole number value in terms of square miles.

To do this, you need to identify the digit immediately to the right of the decimal point. In this case, since we are dealing with whole numbers, there is no decimal point. So, you simply look at the last digit of the number.

- If the last digit is 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4, you round down to the nearest whole number.
- If the last digit is 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, you round up to the nearest whole number.

In our example, the last digit is 7, which is greater than 5. Therefore, you would round up to the nearest whole number, which is 18.

So, when it says to round to the nearest square mile, you need to determine whether to round up or down based on the last digit in the given value.