Search results
Rules for rounding off numbers. If the digit to be dropped is greater than 5, the last retained digit is increased by one. For example, 12.6 is rounded to 13. If the digit to be dropped is less than 5, the last remaining digit is left as it is. For example, 12.4 is rounded to 12.
• Significant figures: digits in the number that are reliable and absolutely necessary to indicate the quantity of something (Wikipedia). • Number of significant digits depends on the precision of the analytical method • More significant figures do not give more information on accuracy
Significant Figures and Rounding – Explanations and Examples Read pages 18-22 in your Lab Manual for a more thorough discussion of the meaning of significant figures and how it relates to accuracy, precision, and error.
Scientific notation, significant figures and rounding . Scientific or Standard Notation is best used to express very large or very small numbers in a compact, easy to read form, but can be used on any numbers. Simply, the basic format of the notation is. + n -> a positive index indicates a large number. 10n.
There are three rules on determining how many significant figures are in a number: Non-zero digits are always significant. Any zeros between two significant digits are significant. A final zero or trailing zeros in the decimal portion ONLY are significant. Focus on these rules and learn them well.
The number of significant places tell us where to start rounding, from then on the rules are the same. Examples. Rounding to 2 significant figures: 15,420 becomes 15,000 (the 1 and the 5 are the first two significant figures and the next digit, 4, is less than 5) 0.001586 becomes 0.0016.
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES. The amount of approximation required in a number may be described in another way by saying how many significant figures are required. To find how many significant figures a number contains count all figures in the number except zeros at the beginning or end of the number.
