CHAPTER 1 : STANDARD FORM

1.1 Significant Figures

MEMORY RECALL
Solve this:
a) Round off 2688 to the nearest hundred : _______________
b) Express 0.59 to one decimal place : _______________

Special Properties of Zero

1. Zero is significant when it lies between non-zero digits.
e.g 20.9 (3 sig.fig)
2009 (4 sig.fig)

2. Zero which appear after the decimal point are significant when they lie after non-zero digits.
e.g 3.000 (4 sig.fig)
8.50 (3 sig.fig)

3. Zero are not significant when there are no non- zero digit in front of them.
e.g 0.004 (1 sig.fig)
0.00050 (2 sig.fig)

4. Depends on the estimation made.

e.g Round off 107, correct to 2 sig.fig = 110

PRACTICE

1. Round off each integer below correct to the number of significant figures given in brackets

a) 76 134 (2) = ____________

b) 82 967 (3) = ____________

c) 2 005 437 (4) = ____________

d) 99 713 (2) = ____________

2. Round off each decimal below correct to the number of significant figures given in brackets.

a) 2136.84 (2) = ____________

b) 7068.35 (3) = ____________

c) 5.03428 (4) = ____________

d) 8.99503 (3) = ____________

3. Round off each decimal below to the number of significant figures given in brackets.

a) 0.081235 (2) = ____________

b) 0.197602 (3) = ____________

c) 0.00730048 (4) = ____________

d) 0.899742 (3) = ____________