Which of the following numbers is the smallest? Your answer is the letter in front of the smallest number.

$\bullet$ A. $14.45001$ rounded to the nearest tenth.

$\bullet$ B. $14.54999$ rounded to the nearest tenth.

$\bullet$ C. $14.44999$ rounded to the nearest tenth.

$\bullet$ D. $14.55001$ rounded to the nearest tenth.
All of these numbers need to be rounded to the nearest tenth. To do this, we look at the places after the tenths place. We see two different endings: $0.05001$ and $0.04999.$ Because the $0.05001$ is greater than $0.05,$ we will round the tenths place up in numbers that end in this. In addition, because $0.04999$ is less than $0.05,$ numbers with this ending will be rounded down. Thus, after rounding according to these rules, we get

$\bullet$ A. $14.5$

$\bullet$ B. $14.5$

$\bullet$ C. $14.4$

$\bullet$ D. $14.6$

Thus, $\boxed{\text{C}}$ is the smallest.