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Many numbers used in scientific work are calculated using a several different numbers through various mathematical operations: addition, multiplication and so on. Some of these are known only to a limited number of significant digits.
For example, although the mathematical constant, pi, has been calculated to over 10 trillion digits, people rarely use pi to more than 6 significant digits (3.14159). Consequently, a calculation involving this value of pi should not have more than 6 sig digits. If you use pi = 3.14, the answer should be limited to 3 sig digs.
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Why do scientists need to know which digits are signifcant?
*Chemistry example* Chemists/scientists need to know which digits are significant because when measuring thing such as mass, your scale may have only 3 significant digits. If you are trying to find the moles, you can only use 3 sig figs in your answer because any more are not precise.
How do you use significant digits in a sentence?
The number 202.45 has five significant digits.
Why do you use significant digits when dealing with measurements?
Measurements need to be specific so we use significant digits.
What digits are considered significant in a measurement?
Non-zero digits are always significant. Thus, 569 has three significant digits, and 69.35 has four significant digits. Zeros are sometimes significant and sometimes aren't: # Zeroes placed before other digits are not significant; 0.0968 has three significant digits. # Zeroes placed between other digits are always significant; 70063 kg has five significant digits. # Zeroes placed after other digits but behind a decimal point are significant; 7.90 has three significant digits. # Zeroes at the end of a number are significant only if they are behind a decimal point as in (c). Otherwise, it is impossible to tell if they are significant. For example, in the number 8200, it is not clear if the zeroes are significant or not. The number of significant digits in 8200 is at least two, but could be three or four. To avoid uncertainty, use scientific notation to place significant zeroes behind a decimal point: 8.200 * 103 has four significant digits 8.20 * 103 has three significant digits 8.2 * 103 has two significant digits
How does the precision of a calculated answer compare to the precision of the measurements use to obtain it?
the precision of the answer must have the same number of significant digits as the measurement with the least significant digits- the site explains the rules and how to identify significant digits
