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Significant Figures

This document discusses significant figures and how they are used to express the precision of measurements and calculations. It explains that significant figures refer to the meaningful digits in a measurement, with leading and some trailing zeros not considered significant. Values are typically reported to a certain number of significant figures defined by the problem. The document provides examples of counting significant figures in values and rounding answers to a specified number of significant figures based on the (x+1)th digit.

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SEBASTIAN BASILIO DE LA CRUZ HUANCARUNA
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40 views

Significant Figures

This document discusses significant figures and how they are used to express the precision of measurements and calculations. It explains that significant figures refer to the meaningful digits in a measurement, with leading and some trailing zeros not considered significant. Values are typically reported to a certain number of significant figures defined by the problem. The document provides examples of counting significant figures in values and rounding answers to a specified number of significant figures based on the (x+1)th digit.

Uploaded by

SEBASTIAN BASILIO DE LA CRUZ HUANCARUNA
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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SIGNIFICANT FIGURES

Estimating is process normally used to see if your answer is of the correct order.
However you will often be asked in exams to give your answer either exactly or to a
certain degree of accuracy this can either be to a certain number of significant
figures or a certain number of decimal places.
Remember whatever the degree of accuracy used, the answer represents an
approximation of the answer and should still be of the same order
1. Leading zeros do not count. The first significant figure is the first non-zero value.
Example: 0.001, 1 is the significant figure, hence 0.001 has one significant figure.
2. Trailing zeros before the decimal point do not count.
Example: 10, 100, 1000 all have only one significant figure.
3. Zeros ‘sandwiched' between non-zero values count.
Example: 101 three significant figures, 1001 four significant figures etc..
4. Trailing zeros after a decimal point count if preceded by a non-zero value.
Example: 0.01 one significant figure, 0.010 two significant figures, 0.0100 three
significant figures.

The reason these zeros are considered is because it shows the accuracy to which
the value has been taken. This is important in science experiments.
5. When giving a value to a certain number of significant figures, say x, then if the
(x+1)th value is less than five, then the x value remains the same, however if the
(x+1)th value is five or more then the x value is increased by one.
Example: Give the following numbers correct to 3 significant figures
a. 3.5444 3.54
b. 3.5455 3.55
c. 47,892 47900

Source: www.saburchill.com/math/chapters/0030024.html

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