What does 'Rounded Down' mean to you? When I saw the POS in Tesco yesterday I was firstly intrigued to discover this dusty expression from school maths textbooks has sneaked onto the supermarket shelf, and secondly by the maths itself (or perhaps I should say arithmetic). Soon I'd spotted lots of prices 'Rounded Down', but...... not as we know it. Just to take one example, a pack of Vanish had a shelf talker announcing "£3 - Rounded Down Prices." Well, a nice round price, certainly, a lucky prime number and all, but upon closer investigation the small print revealed it had been rounded down from £4.17. At this point I pictured my maths teacher and his red pen. Now - you can't criticise Tesco for giving such a good price cut (unless of course you're of the school that believes Ehrenberg's studies proving discounts undermine brand loyalty), but one can't help wondering if they're underplaying their hand. Forgetting for the moment that the average reading age of supermarket shoppers is eleven, with maths trailing somewhere behind, and thus the possibility that 'Rounding' is not everyday currency as a concept.... forgetting all that.... it doesn't strike me as the most powerful proposition. A price cut from £4.17 to £3 means that for your £3 you effectively get 40% EXTRA FREE (okay, rounded up from 39%). Technically you're probably not allowed to say this (although I don't know it if has been tested), but to me it smacks more acutely of the price war, the law of the jungle, the ring the machete... unlike the gently bucolic pastime of rounding.... which for me conjures images of my retirement, a panama hat and a butterfly net!