SIGNIFICANT FIGURES PER B GUERIN
Brenton Guerin
Dr. Bernard
B Period- Chemistry
13 August 2014
Significant Figures
Significant Digits
Used to show just how precisely a measurement was made
They are a function of the instrument being used to make the measurement
With any measurement, round off your measure to the nearest half of the smallest unit
Numbers Measured are Significant
Any non-zero number is significant
Zeroes between 2 other significant figures are also significant
Zeroes at the END of the decimal (trailing zeroes) are significant
Non-Significant
Zeroes that come before all non-zero digits are never significant
Zeroes that come after nonzero digits:
83,000
Zeroes are non-significant
83,000.
Zeroes are significant due to decimal point
83.000
Zeroes are significant due to decimal point
Operating with Significant Figures
When we mathematically operate with numbers we can get answers that contain many more digits than those we actually measured. We need to round our answer off to reflect the same level of certainty in our answer as we had with the measures we made.
Accurate or Precise?
Precision refers to how close data are to each other
Are the consistent with each other?
Significant Figures indicate confidence/precision
Accuracy refers to how close data are to an accepted value
Error-difference between data point and accepted value
% error-as part of accepted value
International System of Units (SI)
Base units (fundamental units)
Unit measures basic concept that can’t be divided into simpler concepts
Length, mass, temperature, time, etc. are examples
Dr. Bernard
B Period- Chemistry
13 August 2014
Significant Figures
Significant Digits
Used to show just how precisely a measurement was made
They are a function of the instrument being used to make the measurement
With any measurement, round off your measure to the nearest half of the smallest unit
Numbers Measured are Significant
Any non-zero number is significant
Zeroes between 2 other significant figures are also significant
Zeroes at the END of the decimal (trailing zeroes) are significant
Non-Significant
Zeroes that come before all non-zero digits are never significant
Zeroes that come after nonzero digits:
83,000
Zeroes are non-significant
83,000.
Zeroes are significant due to decimal point
83.000
Zeroes are significant due to decimal point
Operating with Significant Figures
When we mathematically operate with numbers we can get answers that contain many more digits than those we actually measured. We need to round our answer off to reflect the same level of certainty in our answer as we had with the measures we made.
Accurate or Precise?
Precision refers to how close data are to each other
Are the consistent with each other?
Significant Figures indicate confidence/precision
Accuracy refers to how close data are to an accepted value
Error-difference between data point and accepted value
% error-as part of accepted value
International System of Units (SI)
Base units (fundamental units)
Unit measures basic concept that can’t be divided into simpler concepts
Length, mass, temperature, time, etc. are examples