Rounding Off 38%

The Stoa Board and the Debate Committee desire for the 38% Debate Qualification Rule to be applied as effectively as possible to produce checkmarks for 38% of debate competitors. After analyzing data from fall tournaments and applying the 38% Qualification rule in the traditional manner of ‘rounding down’ to the whole number, we have concluded that we should instead employ the approach of ‘rounding off’ to the nearest whole number.

If the number after the decimal point is a 5 or higher, we will round up to the next whole number. If the number after the decimal point is a 4 or lower, we will round down to the whole number. This new rounding method has been retroactively applied to all previous tournaments held this season as of the week of December 12. This method will bring the average percentage awarded closer to the intended 38%.

Examples of rounding off:

30 competitors (30 x 0.38 = 11.4), rounded off to the nearest whole number will be 11. Thus, the top 11 competitors will receive check marks. The result under the old system of ‘rounding down’ would have been 11 as well.

44 competitors (44 x 0.38 = 16.72), rounded off to the nearest whole number will be 17. Thus, the top 17 competitors will receive check marks. The result under the old system of ‘rounding down’ would have been 16 checkmarks.