Rounding numbers to a specific number of decimal places is a fundamental aspect of data manipulation in SQL. This is crucial for presenting data in a user-friendly format, especially when dealing with monetary values or measurements. The `ROUND()` function is the standard way to achieve this. It takes two arguments: the number to be rounded and the number of decimal places to round to. For example, `ROUND(23.456, 2)` would round the number 23.456 to two decimal places, resulting in 23.46. This function is versatile and can be used with various data types, including numeric and decimal values. Understanding how to use `ROUND()` effectively is essential for any SQL developer working with numerical data. In many cases, you'll want to round to a specific number of decimal places to ensure data consistency and accuracy. For instance, in financial applications, rounding to two decimal places is standard practice for representing currency amounts. This ensures that the displayed values are accurate and consistent with the expected format.