Rounding to 4 decimal places

[jwest77]

OK, I have just created a series of actions that does a great job of calculating the square root of a number the user inputs. I'm feeling pleased as punch. The only problem: it rounds to 2 decimal places. This occurs whether the number is small or large. Oddly enough, it happens even if I want the square root of a number like this: 2.7764 -- the answer displays as 1.67, which is close, but not close enough. Any way to get this to go to 4 (or more) digits?

[jwest77]

Should clarify my question: I need the numbers to go to 4 or more decimal places. 

jwest77 said:OK, I have just created a series of actions that does a great job of calculating the square root of a number the user inputs. I'm feeling pleased as punch. The only problem: it rounds to 2 decimal places. This occurs whether the number is small or large. Oddly enough, it happens even if I want the square root of a number like this: 2.7764 -- the answer displays as 1.67, which is close, but not close enough. Any way to get this to go to 4 (or more) digits?

[kevinelmore]

I haven't tried this, but what if you divide the result by 100?  This would mean that you need to multiply the original number by 100 squared, of course.

So, say the learner enters in 16.  The final result would, naturally, be 4.  You run these steps:
Multiply 16 by 10,000 (160,000)
Take the square root of that number (400)
Divide by 100 (4)

I *think* this may be enough to give you 4 significant digits.  If you need more than that, then you could multiply by 1 million and then divide by 1 thousand.  I would think that Lectora can handle that kind of calculation, but I'm not entirely sure. 

 

At the very least, I hope this suggestion inspires you to find the correct solution.

Kevin

[jwest77]

Kevin, thanks for the quick reply. When I do as you suggest, I still end up with a 2 decimal place number.

[kevinelmore]

I've had time to explore this in greater detail.  Sadly, it seems that Lectora rounds everything to 2 places.  Even when I divide a simple number by 10,000, I only get two places.  That's quite a shortcoming, actually.  Even if you don't have a maintenance plan, I would imagine you could call Trivantis and get an answer, because I think this is a feature that Lectora should offer, and it clearly does not. I personally think you are owed some satisfaction for this inconvenience.

I'm sorry; I thought the dividing by 100 trick would have worked.  I must be thinking of another application where I've done that before.

Kevin

[kevinelmore]

So, rarely do I back down from a challenge, and I have found a way to display a number to 4 decimal places.  You can see the guts within the file I uploaded called "rounding exercise.awt."

Note that I put a condition on the "Round lefthand" action.  If there is enough of a number after dividing by 10,000, then that number is used for the lefthand side.  If not, then it is blank.

I have not messed with the righthand side much, but I think I can guarantee some rounding issues if the number ends in one or more zeroes.  You'd have to fine-tune the conditions...perhaps use Action Groups.

This is not the best way to display the number (at least, I hope not!), but it may do in a pinch.  Once again, it hopefully will provide a springboard that gets you closer to the true answer.

Kevin

[tbennethum]

OK, I have just created a series of actions that does a great job of calculating the square root of a number the user inputs. I'm feeling pleased as punch. The only problem: it rounds to 2 decimal places. This occurs whether the number is small or large. Oddly enough, it happens even if I want the square root of a number like this: 2.7764 -- the answer displays as 1.67, which is close, but not close enough. Any way to get this to go to 4 (or more) digits?

I see that you have successfully determined how to do a square root....do you have any suggestions for creating a square of a number? I would like the user to enter a number then have Lectora square the entry....ultimately that number would be multiplied by a fixed value (constant).....I'm a novice-intermediate user of variables so be gentle! Thanks for any help you can provide.