Question

Define Significant figures

Answer 1

Significant figures are the meaningful digits in a number which are known with certainty.

Answer 2

The table shows several examples of numbers written in standard decimal notation (first column) and in scientific notation (second column). The third column shows the number of signficant figures in the corresponding expression in the second column.

Decimal expression Scientific notation Sig. figs.
1,222,000.00 1.222 x 10 6 4
1.22200000 x 10 6 9
0.00003450000 3.45 x 10 -5 3
3.450000 x 10 -5 7
-9,876,543,210 -9.87654 x 10 9 6
-9.876543210 x 10 9 10
-0.0000000100 -1 x 10 -8 1
-1.00 x 10 -8 3
Significant figures are arrived at by rounding off an expression after a calculation is executed. In any calculation, the number of significant figures in the solution