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SIGNIFICANTFIGURESREVIEW

MathWithSignificantFigures
AdditionandSubtraction
Inmathematicaloperationsinvolvingsignificantfigures,theanswerisreportedinsuchawaythatitreflectsthe reliabilityoftheleastpreciseoperation.Let'sstatethatanotherway:achainisnostrongerthanitsweakestlink.An answerisnomoreprecisethattheleastprecisenumberusedtogettheanswer.Let'sdoitonemoretime:imaginea teamracewhereyouandyourteammustfinishtogether.Whodictatesthespeedoftheteam?Ofcourse,the slowestmemberoftheteam.YouranswercannotbeMOREprecisethantheleastprecisemeasurement. Foradditionandsubtraction,lookatthedecimalportion(i.e.,totherightofthedecimalpoint)ofthenumbers ONLY.Hereiswhattodo: 1) Countthenumberofsignificantfiguresinthedecimalportionofeachnumberintheproblem.(Thedigits totheleftofthedecimalplacearenotusedtodeterminethenumberofdecimalplacesinthefinalanswer.) Addorsubtractinthenormalfashion. RoundtheanswertotheLEASTnumberofplacesinthedecimalportionofanynumberintheproblem.

2) 3)

WARNING:therulesforadd/subtractaredifferentfrommultiply/divide.Averycommonstudenterroristo swapthetwosetsofrules.Anothercommonerroristousejustoneruleforbothtypesofoperations. PracticeProblems 1)3.461728+14.91+0.980001+5.2631 2)23.1+4.77+125.39+3.581 3)22.1010.9307 4)0.042160.0004134 5)564,321264,321 Remembertocheckthedecimalportionsofeachnumberintheproblem.Forexample,inthesecondproblem,the 23.1willdictatethesignificantfiguresinthedecimalportionoftheanswer.Inotherwords,NOMATTERhow manysignificantfiguresthereareinthewholenumberpart(totheleftofthedecimalplace),theanswertoproblem number2willextendonlyintothetenthplace.

MultiplicationandDivision
Thefollowingruleappliesformultiplicationanddivision: TheLEASTnumberofsignificantfiguresinanynumberoftheproblemdeterminesthenumberofsignificant figuresintheanswer.ThismeansyouMUSTknowhowtorecognizesignificantfiguresinordertousethisrule. Example#1:2.5x3.42. Theanswertothisproblemwouldbe8.6(whichwasroundedfromthecalculatorreadingof8.55).Why?

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SIGNIFICANTFIGURESREVIEW

2.5hastwosignificantfigureswhile3.42hasthree.Twosignificantfiguresislessprecisethanthree,sotheanswer hastwosignificantfigures. Example#2:Howmanysignificantfigureswilltheanswerto3.10x4.520have? Youmayhavesaidtwo.Thisistoofew.Acommonerrorisforthestudenttolookatanumberlike3.10andthinkit hastwosignificantfigures.Thezerointhehundredthsplaceisnotrecognizedassignificantwhen,infact,itis. 3.10hasthreesignificantfigures. Threeisthecorrectanswer.14.0hasthreesignificantfigures.Notethatthezerointhetenth'splaceisconsidered significant.Alltrailingzerosinthedecimalportionareconsideredsignificant. Anothercommonerrorisforthestudenttothinkthat14and14.0arethesamething.THEYARENOT.14.0isten timesmoreprecisethan14.Thetwonumbershavethesamevalue,buttheyconveydifferentmeaningsabouthow trustworthytheyare. Fourisalsoanincorrectanswergivenbysomestudents.Itistoomanysignificantfigures.Onepossiblereasonfor thisanswerliesinthenumber4.520.Thisnumberhasfoursignificantfigureswhile3.10hasthree.Somehow,the student(YOU!)maybegottheideathatitistheGREATESTnumberofsignificantfiguresintheproblemthat dictatestheanswer.ItistheLEAST. Sometimesstudentswillanswerthiswithfive.Mostlikelyyourespondedwiththisanswerbecauseitsays14.012 onyourcalculator.Thisanswerwouldhavebeencorrectinyourmathclassbecausemathematicsdoesnothavethe significantfigureconcept. Example#3:2.33x6.085x2.1.Howmanysignificantfiguresintheanswer? Answertwo. Whichnumberdecidesthis? Why? Answerthe2.1.

Ithastheleastnumberofsignificantfiguresintheproblem.Itis,therefore,theleastprecisemeasurement.

Example#4:(4.52x104)(3.980x106). Howmanysignificantfiguresintheanswer? Whichnumberdecidesthis? Why? Answerthree.

Answerthe4.52x104.

Ithastheleastnumberofsignificantfiguresintheproblem.Itis,therefore,theleastprecisemeasurement. Noticeitisthe4.52portionthatplaystheroleofdeterminingsignificantfigures;theexponentialportion playsnorole.

PracticeProblems Solvethese,thenclickthelinkforanswersanddiscussion. 1)(3.4617x107)(5.61x104) 2)[(9.714x105)(2.1482x109)][(4.1212)(3.7792x105)].Watchyourorderofoperationsonthisproblem. 3)(4.7620x1015)[(3.8529x1012)(2.813x107)(9.50)]

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SIGNIFICANTFIGURESREVIEW

4)[(561.0)(34,908)(23.0)][(21.888)(75.2)(120.00)]