Sig Figs & Units

Front

What are significant figures?

Back

Significant figures are the digits in a number that contribute to its precision, including all non-zero digits, any zeros between significant digits, and trailing zeros in the decimal portion.

Front

How do you round a number to a specific number of significant figures?

Back

To round a number to a specific number of significant figures, identify the last significant figure you want to keep, look at the digit immediately to the right, and round up if it is 5 or greater, or leave it unchanged if it is less than 5.

Front

What is the significance of trailing zeros in a number?

Back

Trailing zeros in a number are significant only if they are to the right of a decimal point. For example, in 100.0, all four digits are significant.

Front

How many significant figures are in the number 0.00456?

Back

There are three significant figures in the number 0.00456 (the digits 4, 5, and 6). The leading zeros are not significant.

Front

What is scientific notation?

Back

Scientific notation is a way of expressing numbers that are too large or too small to be conveniently written in decimal form, using the format a × 10^n, where 1 ≤ a < 10 and n is an integer.

Front

Convert the number 0.00000789 to scientific notation.

Back

7.89 x 10^-6.

Front

What is the prefix for one millionth in the metric system?

Back

The prefix for one millionth is 'micro', represented by the symbol 'μ'.

Front

What is the difference between mass and weight?

Back

Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in an object, while weight is the force exerted by gravity on that mass.

Front

How do you determine the number of significant figures in a measurement?

Back

To determine the number of significant figures in a measurement, count all non-zero digits, any zeros between significant digits, and trailing zeros in the decimal portion.

Front

What is the significance of the number 10 in scientific notation?

Back

In scientific notation, the number 10 serves as the base that indicates the scale of the number, with the exponent showing how many places to move the decimal point.