Significant Figures and Scientific Notation

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 determine the number of significant figures in a measurement?

Back

Count all non-zero digits, any zeros between them, and trailing zeros in a decimal number. Leading zeros are not counted.

Front

What is scientific notation?

Back

Scientific notation is a way of expressing numbers as a product of a number between 1 and 10 and a power of ten.

Front

How do you convert a number to scientific notation?

Back

Move the decimal point in the number to create a new number between 1 and 10, then count the number of places moved to determine the exponent of ten.

Front

What is the correct scientific notation for 5000?

Back

5.0 x 10^3.

Front

When multiplying numbers in scientific notation, how do you combine them?

Back

Multiply the coefficients and add the exponents of the powers of ten.

Front

What is the result of (9.0 x 10^-6) x (3.0 x 10^-3) in scientific notation?

Back

2.7 x 10^-8.

Front

What is the rule for rounding numbers to significant figures?

Back

If the digit to be dropped is less than 5, round down. If it is 5 or greater, round up.

Front

Round 509.967 to 4 significant figures.

Back

510.0.

Front

How do you convert scientific notation to standard form?

Back

Multiply the coefficient by 10 raised to the power indicated, moving the decimal point accordingly.