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Rounding to Significant Figures 2

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25 views

Rounding to Significant Figures 2

Uploaded by

aurumbanks
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Rounding to Significant Figures

There are two key rounding rules which you should know:
• If the deciding digit is less than 5 (0, 1, 2, 3 or 4), we round down.
• If the deciding digit is 5 or more (5, 6, 7, 8 or 9), we round up.

In maths, significant means ‘to have value’. For example, in the number 2795, the 2 is the most
significant digit, because it tells us that the number is 2 thousand and something. However, in the
number 0.052, the 5 is the most significant digit.
Let’s look at this in practice.

Rounding to One Significant Figure

Example 1: Round 37 to 1 significant figure.


We must firstly identify the column where we are being asked to round. In this case, we are being
asked to round the number to one significant figure. When we round to significant figures, we
start counting as soon as we reach a number that is not zero. In this example, it is the digit 3.

3 7
1 significant figure (digit in
the rounding position)

Now, look at the digit in the column to the right of the 3. This digit will decide what happens to
the 3 and is known as the ‘decider’. It will determine whether we will be rounding up or down, and
therefore whether the digit in the rounding position will increase or stay the same. If the decider
digit is 5 or more, it tells us that we will round up. If it is 4 or less, it tells us that we will round down.
By applying this rule, we see that we are rounding up, so the 3 needs to be increased to 4. This is
because 37 is closer to 40 than it is to 30.

3 7
1 significant figure Decider

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Rounding to Significant Figures
It is vital that the place value of the original digits remains the same. For whole numbers, you will
need to replace any rounded digits with the correct number of zeros.
Therefore, 37 rounded to 1 significant figure is 40. Notice how the number now only has one
‘significant’ figure (4) whilst retaining its original place value (the 0 has no value, so is not counted
as a significant figure).

Rounding to Two Significant Figures

Example 2: Round 91 378 to two significant figures.

9 1 3 7 8
1 significant figure 2 significant figures

Again, start by identifying the column where we are being asked to round. In this case, we are
rounding to two significant figures. Remember we start counting as soon as we reach a number
that is not zero. The first significant figure is 9. The second significant figure is 1.
Now, look at the digit and column to the right of the 1. This is the decider digit and determines
whether we will be rounding up or down.

Decider

9 1 3 7 8
1 significant figure 2 significant figures
(digit in the rounding
position)

We can see that the decider digit here is 3. If the deciding digit is less than 5, then we are rounding
down. This means the digit in the rounding position, 1, remains the same and the following three
digits are replaced by 0s. Although we haven’t changed the value of the 1, we have rounded
down, as our number is smaller than our original number, but keeps its original place value.
91 378 rounded to 2 significant figures is 91 000.

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Rounding to Significant Figures
Rounding to Three Significant Figures

Example 3: Round 0.05697 to three significant figures.


Rounding to three significant figures follows similar steps to rounding to one or two significant
figures.
Begin by identifying the digit in the rounding position. This time we have a decimal number which
contains 0s at the beginning. Remember, we start counting as soon as we reach a number that is
not zero.

Decider

0.0 5 6 9 7
1 significant figure 2 significant figures 3 significant figures
(digit in the rounding
position)

By applying the rounding rules, the decider digit (7) tells us that we are rounding up. This means
the digit in the rounding position (9) needs to be increased. We need to be careful here. If we
increase 9 by one, we get 10 but we can’t just squeeze 10 into the gap. Instead, we replace the 9
with a 0, and add the 1 to the column to the left (6).
0.05697 rounded to three significant figures is 0.0570. You might think that we don’t need the final
zero; however, a trailing zero after a decimal place is significant, because it gives us information
about how accurately we know the number (0.60 is more accurate than 0.6, for example).

Example 4: Round 14 032.25 to three significant figures.


As before, we identify our rounding digit by counting to the third significant figure, 0. In this case,
0 is significant, because it is between other significant figures and if we removed it we would
change their value (the 4 is currently worth 4000, if we removed the 0 the 4 would be worth 400).
We look at the next digit, 3, which tells us to round down. We leave the 0, replace the 3 and 2 with
0s, and remove the 0s after the decimal point. This gives us 14 000.
You may notice that 14 000 actually only has two significant figures. In this situation, you can think
of rounding to three significant figures as rounding up to three significant figures. You will never
have to use more significant figures, but sometimes you may have to use less.

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Rounding to Significant Figures
Your Turn
1. Complete the table by rounding each number to one, two and three significant figures.

Round to One Round to Two Round to Three


Number
Significant Figure Significant Figures Significant Figures
3578
8502
101 764
347 102
505 297
265.36
489.951
7012.76
131.541
155.85
995 841.23
4.0052
111.021
0.05234
0.09854
0.18781
0.87423
0.009883
0.0009695

2. The approximate distance from the Earth to the Sun is 149 597 870 700m. Round this number
to two significant figures.


3. A bacterial cell has a length of 0.001375mm. Round this number to three significant figures.


4. A car travels for 35 seconds at an average speed of 15m/s. Use the equation
distance = speed × time to calculate the distance travelled by the car. Give your answer to
two significant figures.


5. A solution contains 40g of salt dissolved in 1.9dm3 of water. Use the equation
mass
concentration = to calculate the concentration of the solution. Give your answer
volume
to four significant figures.


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