To round the number 2.596 to the nearest hundredth, follow these steps:
1. Identify the digit in the hundredths place. In the number 2.596, the hundredths place is occupied by the digit '9'.
2. Look at the digit immediately to the right of the hundredths place to decide whether to round up or down. Here, this digit is '6'.
3. If this digit ('6') is 5 or greater, you round up the digit in the hundredths place. If it's less than 5, you round down.
4. Since '6' is greater than 5, you increase the digit in the hundredths place by 1. Thus, '9' becomes '10', which causes rounding up in both hundredths and tenths, effectively rounding '2.596' to '2.60'.
So, when 2.596 is rounded to the nearest hundredth, the result is:
2.60
