1. Significant Figures Overview
Physics

2. Applying Precision - Accuracy
Scientists use significant figures to show precision of a measured quantity
Significant figure: Prescribed decimal place determining the amount of rounding-off when assessing the precision of a measurement
Round your answers to the correct significant figures

3. Significant Figures – Counting Rules
ALL non-zero digits are Significant
Leading and trailing zeros are not significant
2500 and have TWO Significant Figures
Zeros in between Non-Zeros are significant
2501 and 2003 have FOUR Significant Figures
Zeros after a decimal point ARE SIGNIFICANT
They do not begin the number
25.00 and have FOUR Significant Figures

4. Significant Figures – Adding/Subtracting
The answer cannot have more decimal places than the least number of decimal places in the calculation
Add to 3
The answer is 18

5. Significant Figures – Multiplication/Division
Based on the givens or what you think are measured values, round your answer so that it has the same number of significant figures as the input ( or given ) with the fewest number of significant figures
Multiply 2.0 and 3.01
Answer in correct significant figures is 6.0