I mean, is there a reason for it to be applicable to GPAs?

For grading on a curve? Yeah, I'm just making shit up now.

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Any others? I mean, is there a reason for it to be applicable to GPAs?

My guess (and it's the first time I've heard of the rule either, so it's only a guess coming out of my sieve) is that it's a rule for statistics, for when you're using lots of numbers, when you don't want to skew an average or change the sum significantly. Since statistically half the numbers that end with 5 end with odd-5 and the other half ends with even-5 that's just a way to make sure you round-up around the same times of numbers that you round-down, so the sum - and the average - aren't changed.

For something like one perosn's grades, though, just the single number, no statistics nvolved, I don't see how it is needed. Unless, of course, you want to average out grades from students all over. It's still not needed for each single student, but for a group, maybe.

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Never heard of banker's rounding before. We were taught always to round 5's up.

Oh, and in news I'm sure will stun you all, it appears that I'm a liberal. However, I'm married to a pro-government conservative. (Which doesn't mean that he's pro this government, but that he believes in social programs, environmental legislation, and other things that are anathema to the powers that be, while still adopting a more conservative view on foreign policy and certain moral issues than a liberal would.) It's a Pew Research Center thing, and you can take the quiz here: [link]

Apparently the liberal group has surged in size since 1999. None of which surprises me at all, because if I'd taken that quiz in '99, I probably would've come out as a conservative Democrat--there's nothing like a radical government to drive people who disagree with them away from anything resembling the center!

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Also, shrift, Yahoo Mail is being a phenomenal bitch, so, in short:

Got it! Will check into it this weekend while you're, you know, off having fun and I'm being tortured with bridal stores.

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No surprise here, I'm a liberal.

I didn't like all the choices though. There were a number of questions where I wanted to say "I agree, but..."

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Up against "Lost".

And "The Inside" most likely.

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Nilly's correct. If the sample size is large enough, all that rounding will slightly increase the average value, because a .0 is not changed, .1 to .4 are rounded down, and .5 to .9 are rounded up. If you round .5 to the even number instead of always rounding up, you prevent that tiny inflation. You could round .5 to the odd number instead, as long as you were consistent about it.

For something like one perosn's grades, though, just the single number, no statistics nvolved, I don't see how it is needed.

Well, it is an average. But yeah, there's no reason to bother with it for one person's GPA. If you were comparing one school's average grades to another's, then it might make a slight difference.

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Strega, I don't think I've ever seen you post here (you're Strega from TWOP, right?), which may totally be my fault since I hardly keep up with any threads any more, but either eay, welcome and nice to post with you (and not just because you said I was right...).

If you were comparing one school's average grades to another's, then it might make a slight difference.

That's what I meant when I mentioned large groups, too.

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This is a weird rule. Is it new? Did I forget something this big?

I'd not heard of it either, though it suits my sensibilities much better than the "round fives up" rule I'd been taught. I was always a little miffed because the 5 is actually in the lower set of numbers, with any additional decimal places beyond the 5 moving it into the upper set.

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There are naked women covered in chocolate on the Food Network right now. t /PSA

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