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Significant figures are a way of maintaining the precision of a measured value throughout a calculation. It can be a confusing concept, so I'll use an example to explain. Say you have glass filled with soda and you want to know how much the soda weighs but you don't have a scale. However you do know that you have 355mL of soda and that it has a density of 1.23g/mL (why you would know this, I have no idea but just go with it anway). The calculation to determine the weight is: 355mL x 1.23g/mL Now if you type this into a calculator, it would tell you that you have 436.65g of soda. However using proper significant figures, you would round that number to 437g of soda. Why? Because you knew both the volume and the density of the soda to only 3 significant figures (3 digits). In reality there may have been 355.102mL or 354.981564mL of soda but based on the measurement "355mL" we can only say that we know the volume of the soda to the nearest milliliter. The same argument can be said for the density. There are many rules to what counts as a significant figure and how they should be used. If you are curious, the websites below should help you out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significant_figures http://science.widener.edu/svb/tutorial/sigfigures.html
A significant digit is a digit that carries meaningful information about a number. It is any digit from 1 to 9, with zeros used to indicate magnitude but not precision. In a number like 205, the 2 and 5 are significant digits.
A significant digit(also known as sig figs) are digits in a number that contribute to the accuracy of a number.
What classifies as significant digit is listed below:
-All non-zero numbers are significant.
- zeroes can only be significant if they are sandwiched between two non-zero numbers, or if they trail in a decimal.
Minor amendment:
Trailing zeroes, in a decimal may not be significant if they are present for conventional reasons rather than for accuracy. For example, if an item costs 1.49, I might say it costs 1.50 (to the nearest ten pennies/cents/whatever). The last significant digit is actually the 5, but I give 2 decimal places because that is the conventional form for representing money.
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327 as one significant figure?
The number 327 to one significant figure is 300. The digit 3 is the first and only significant figure, and numbers after this digit are considered not significant.
What is the measurement 1042L rounded off to two significant digits?
1042L rounded off to two significant digits is 1000L. The digit "1" in the hundreds place is the most significant digit, so the number is rounded down to 1000L.
How many significant figures are in 3001?
There are four significant figures in 3001.
Significant figures of 808.57?
808.57 has 5 significant figures. The first digit, 8, is not considered a significant figure unless there is a decimal point present.
46313 rounded to 1 significant figure?
The number 46313 rounded to 1 significant figure is 50000. The significant digit is 5, so the number is rounded up to the nearest power of 10.
How many significant figures in 1.3000?
All digits are significant in this case. Any digit after a decimal point is a significant digit.
What is the position of the first significant digit of 0.00058?
The first significant digit is the 5, which is in the ten-thousandth's position.
Is considered a significant digit when it is to the left or the right of the decimal point and it follows a non-zero digit or when it is betwee two digits?
Zero is considered a significant digit when it is to the left or the right of the decimal point. It is also a significant digit when it follows a non-zero digit or when it is between two digits.
What is the significant digit for 1056?
Four - zeros in-between significant digits are significant.
How many significant digit are in 192.0?
4 significant digits.
What is the significant digit of 5789?
All four digits are significant.
What numbers are important in Significant figures?
All digit are significant except: leading zeros,in the case of integers, trailing zeros.All digit are significant except: leading zeros,in the case of integers, trailing zeros.All digit are significant except: leading zeros,in the case of integers, trailing zeros.All digit are significant except: leading zeros,in the case of integers, trailing zeros.
327 as one significant figure?
The number 327 to one significant figure is 300. The digit 3 is the first and only significant figure, and numbers after this digit are considered not significant.
What is the significant digit for this number 3.008?
Four - zeros between significant digits are significant.
What is 37.19 to one significant figure?
To one significant digit, 37.19 is 4x101. Writing it as 40 makes it unclear as to whether you have 1 significant digit or 2.
What is the least significant digit of 9200?
There aren't varying degrees of significance - either it's a significant digit or it's not. Nine and two are significant and the two zeros aren't.
How many significant digit are in 1000.000?
All of the digits are significant:Any digit after the decimal point is significant.A zero is significant if it comes between other significant digits.
