SIGNIFICANT
FIGURES
In
measurement the accurately known digits
and first doubtful digits are called significant figures.
RULES
OF SIGNIFICANT FIGURES:
Ø
All non zero digits are
significant figures.
e.g. 7686 has four significant figures.
Ø
Zeros lying between the
non-zeros are significant.
e.g. 304005 has six significant figures.
Ø
All the zeros which locate
the decimal point in a number less than one are not significant.
e.g. 0.0008765 has four significant figures.
Ø
The zeros which are located
immediately to the right of the decimal point are significant.
e.g. 38.0000 has six significant
figures.
Ø
Zeros lying the decimal
point in a number greater than one are not necessarily significant.
e.g. 600 has only significant figure.
When two are more numbers are used in a
calculation, the number of significant figures with answers in limited by the
number of significant figures in the original data.