significant figures and rounding off

1. NON ZERO DIGITS. All non-zero digits are significant. 2. ZEROS IN MEASUREMENT a. Trailing Zeros. Final zeros after a decimal point are always significant b. Captive Zeros. Zeros that are found between nonzero digits are significant

Rules on the use of Significant Figures

c. Leading Zeros. Zeros that precede all the non-zero digits

c.1. Zeros before a decimal point are NOT significant c.2. The zeros after the decimal point preceding the other digits are NOT significant

Rules on the Use of Significant Figures

d. Final Zeros in a Whole Number may or may not be significant figures.

Rules on the use of Significant Figures

3. EXACT NUMBERS Any number that is exact is said to have an unlimited number of significant figures.

Rules on the Use of Significant Figures

4. ADDITION and SUBTRACTION The sum or difference should have the same number of digits to the right of the decimal point as the factor with the lease number of digits to the right of the decimal point.

Rules on the Use of Significant Figures

5. MULTIPLICATION and DIVISION The result obtained by multiplication and/or division must have the same number of significant figures as the factor with the least number of significant figures.

Rules on the Use of Significant Figures

 When the answer to a calculation contains too many sig fig, it must be rounded off to the proper number of sig fig.

Rules for Rounding Off Numbers

1. If the digit to be removed is less than 5, drop this digit and leave the remaining number unchanged. 2. If the digit to be removed is greater than 5, drop this and increase the preceding digit by one.

Rules for Rounding Off Numbers

 Accuracy tells us how close a measurement is to the true value of the quantity that is measured. Precision refers to how closely two or more measurements of the same quantity agree with one another.

Accuracy and Precision

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 Study conversion tables

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