Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 15 views

    Significant Figures

    Uploaded by

    khushi
    1) Significant figures, or significant digits, refer to the digits in a measured number that are reasonably certain plus one uncertain digit. 2) Rules for determining significant figures include that non-zero digits are always significant, enclosed zeros are significant, leading and trailing zeros may or may not be significant depending on their position, and numbers that are exact have an infinite number of significant figures. 3) When performing calculations, the number of significant figures in the final answer should be the same as the measurement with the smallest number of significant figures.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Significant Figures

    Uploaded by

    khushi
    15 views2 pages
    1) Significant figures, or significant digits, refer to the digits in a measured number that are reasonably certain plus one uncertain digit. 2) Rules for determining significant figures include that non-zero digits are always significant, enclosed zeros are significant, leading and trailing zeros may or may not be significant depending on their position, and numbers that are exact have an infinite number of significant figures. 3) When performing calculations, the number of significant figures in the final answer should be the same as the measurement with the smallest number of significant figures.

    Original Description:

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    1) Significant figures, or significant digits, refer to the digits in a measured number that are reasonably certain plus one uncertain digit. 2) Rules for determining significant figures include that non-zero digits are always significant, enclosed zeros are significant, leading and trailing zeros may or may not be significant depending on their position, and numbers that are exact have an infinite number of significant figures. 3) When performing calculations, the number of significant figures in the final answer should be the same as the measurement with the smallest number of significant figures.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    15 views2 pages

    Significant Figures

    Uploaded by

    khushi
    1) Significant figures, or significant digits, refer to the digits in a measured number that are reasonably certain plus one uncertain digit. 2) Rules for determining significant figures include that non-zero digits are always significant, enclosed zeros are significant, leading and trailing zeros may or may not be significant depending on their position, and numbers that are exact have an infinite number of significant figures. 3) When performing calculations, the number of significant figures in the final answer should be the same as the measurement with the smallest number of significant figures.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Significant Figures

    Shaun E. Schmidt, Ph. D.


    last revised 9/13/2007

    Significant digits or figures are those digits in a measured number (or result of a calculation
    with measured numbers) that include all certain digits plus a final one having some uncertainty.
    Rules:
    1) Non-zero integers (1-9) always count as significant figures.
    2) Zeros:
    a) Enclosed zeros with integers to both the left and right always count as significant figures.
    b) Leadings zeros (on the left) NEVER count as significant figures.
    c) Trailing zeros (on the right) only count as significant figures when there is a decimal
    point present; otherwise, they DO NOT count as significant figures.
    3) Numbers that are exact have an infinite number of significant figures.
    4) When numbers are added or subtracted, write the result with the same uncertainty (find
    using decimal places) as the number having the largest uncertainty.
    5) When numbers are multiplied or divided, write the result with the same number of
    significant figures as the number having the fewest number of significant figures.
    6) When taking common logarithms, if L is the logarithm of A (L = logA), the number of places
    after the decimal in L is the same number of significant figures in A. Conversely, if A is the
    antilogarithm of L, (A = antilogL or A = 10L), the number of significant figures in A is equal
    to the number of places after the decimal in L.
    Here are a few problems with the answers below. How many significant figures (sig figs) are
    there in each number or calculated value?

    1) 12 ft 2) 45,526 sec
    3) 528 torr 4) 1203 miles
    5) 890 J 6) 4.056 candela
    7) 890. J 8) 503 ergs
    9) 0.056578 km 10) 0.017000 µL
    11) 0.0590570 ton 12) 2.032081 °C
    13) 3 ft = 1 yd 14) 144 apples = 1 gross apples
    15) 0.0233 ft + 3,000 ft 16) 5 days + 6 days
    17) 865 lb - 1,700 lb 18) 0.236 tsp + 0.841 tsp
    19) 5.47 nm ÷ 89.7 s 20) 4.5 oz x 56 ft
    21) 56,968 hr ÷ 0.00000258 hr 22) 0.002 dL x 52189112 Gm
    23) 2.56 x 10-23 ÷ 3.600 x 10-34 24) (132 + 2.53) / (345 - 371)
    25) log(0.05478) 26) antilog(0.56)
    27) antilog(-23.562) 28) log(25.302 + 5.0 ÷ 2.78)
    (2.06 + log(250))
    29) 30) 2.50 + 0.0
    antilog(0.0213)
    Achtung!!! The Answers are below!!! Warning!!!

    1) 12 ft 2 2) 45,526 sec 5
    3) 528 torr 3 4) 1203 miles 4
    5) 890 J 2 6) 4.056 candela 4
    7) 890. J 3 8) 503 ergs 3
    9) 0.056578 km 5 10) 0.017000 µL 5
    11) 0.0590570 ton 6 12) 2.032081 °C 7
    13) 3 ft = 1 yd inf. 14) 144 apples = 1 gross apples inf.
    15) 0.0233 ft + 3,000 ft 1 16) 5 days + 6 days 2
    17) 865 lb - 1,700 lb 1 18) 0.236 tsp + 0.841 tsp 4
    19) 5.47 nm ÷ 89.7 s 3 20) 4.5 oz x 56 ft 2
    21) 56,968 hr ÷ 0.00000258 hr 3 22) 0.002 dL x 52189112 Gm 1
    -23 -34
    23) 2.56 x 10 ÷ 3.600 x 10 3 24) (132 + 2.53) / (345 - 371) 2
    25) log(0.05478) 5 26) antilog(0.56) 2
    27) antilog(-23.562) 3 28) log(25.302 + 5.0 ÷ 2.78) 4
    (2.06 + log(250))
    29) 3 30) 2.50 + 0.0 ?
    antilog(0.0213)

    inf = infinite

    You might also like