Scientific notation and significant figures
Scientific Notation: - Scientific notation is a way of representing numbers that is widely used in science and mathematics. - It uses a set of digits and s...
Scientific Notation: - Scientific notation is a way of representing numbers that is widely used in science and mathematics. - It uses a set of digits and s...
Scientific Notation:
Scientific notation is a way of representing numbers that is widely used in science and mathematics.
It uses a set of digits and symbols to represent numbers in a specific order.
The digits represent the place of the number, while the symbols represent the value of each place.
The most common symbols used in scientific notation are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0.
Significant Figures:
Significant figures are the digits of a number that are known with certainty.
They are the digits that contribute the most to the overall value of the number.
To determine the significant figures of a number, you should count the number of digits in the number, and then keep only the digits that are known with certainty.
Scientific notation only displays the significant figures of a number.
For example, the number 12.34 has 3 significant figures, since the digits 1, 2, and 3 are known with certainty.
Examples:
The number 1000 has 3 significant figures, since the digits 1, 0, and 0 are known with certainty.
The number 0.001 has 2 significant figures, since the digits 0 and 0 are known with certainty.
The number 1.234 has 4 significant figures, since the digits 1, 2, 3, and 4 are known with certainty