![]() ![]() You can be sure that your measurement is no more than 1 mm different from the real length of the box if you measured carefully. ![]() For example, suppose you measure the length of a box with a normal ruler with increments, or markings, for millimeters (mm). When measuring a quantity, the significant figures describe how precise the measurement was by listing the digits in a measured value which are known with certainty. ![]() Generally, including an extra sig fig, especially in the middle of calculations is reasonable. This means that recording the data with 2 sig figs would be correct. mL would be like saying the measurement was between 18 - 22 mL. For example, a graduated cylinder could be accurate to 2 mL. But you can assume that you used the standard measuring tools in the lab and use the significant figures based on the tools' accuracy. You may forget to include the decimal point, particularly in your lab notebook when working in the lab. mL are used, then there are 2 sig figs in the number 20. For example, if given a problem in which 20. However, if the zeros are significant, then a period or decimal point would be added to the end. This shows that the 1 on the right is significant, and so if the smallest digit (representing 1s) is significant, then the bigger ones (representing 10s and 100s) must be also. We could have "rounded" it to 1000, showing that the last digit wasn't significant, but we didn't. The reason is because the zeros have to be there to show what the number is, so they don't count as significant digits. For instance, 18 has 2 sig figs, and 3.456 has 4 sig figs. Significant figures, often called sig figs, are the number of digits in a given value, or number. This is where significant figures come in handy. Going through the calculations with these values would tell you that the circumference was between 94.25 mm and 100.53 mm. So what do you say the circumference of the circle was? You certainly don't know the circumference more precisely than you knew the diameter, which was between 30 and 32 mm. Then you do the calculation on your calculator and get 97.389372261284 mm. You used a ruler and found the diameter to be 31 mm. Suppose you were measuring the diameter of the box below and you needed to report its circumference.
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