Two numbers are given below. \[ 34,856 \] a) Approximate the sum of these numbers by first rounding each number to the nearest hundred. b) Find the exact sum of these numbers, then round this value to the nearest hundred.

To start, when rounding 34,856 to the nearest hundred, we look at the tens digit (which is 5). Since it is 5 or greater, we round up, making it 34,900. Now, if we calculated the approximate sum, it would remain precisely 34,900 since only one number was provided. For the exact sum, we note that we only have one number, which means it’s already complete. However, if we hypothetically take two identical numbers as a reference and find the exact sum (34,856 + 34,856), we get 69,712. Rounding this to the nearest hundred, we look at the tens digit (1), so we round down to 69,700!