Significant Figures (copy)
General Rules for Determining Number of Significant Figures
- All nonzero digits are significant.
- Zeros are also significant with two exceptions:
1. zeros preceding the decimal point.
2. zeros following the decimal point and preceding the first nonzero digit.
- Terminal zeros preceding the decimal point in amounts greater than one is an ambiguous case.
Rules for Numbers WITHOUT a Decimal Point
- START counting for sig. figs. On the FIRST non-zero digit.
- STOP counting for sig. figs. On the LAST non-zero digit.
- Non-zero digits are ALWAYS significant.
- Zeroes in between two non-zero digits are significant. All other zeroes are insignificant.
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