Significant Figures and Scientific Notation

The rules for counting sig figs are

• no decimal: first non-zero until the end, decimal: first non-zero until the last non-zero

• no decimal: first non-zero until the last non-zero, decimal: first non-zero until the end

• no decimal: first zero until the end, decimal: first zero until the last non-zero

The number of significant figures in: 405,000

• 6

• 5

• 4

• 3

The number of significant figures is: 0.00008770

• 8

• 4

• 3

• 7

The number of significant figures is: 10.0

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

The following number has 4 significant figures.

• 1010

• 0.0055

• 5000

• 101.0

Writing in scientific notation:

• decimal goes behind the first non-zero, exponent is the number of times the decimal moves, + exponent for >1, - exponent for <1

• decimal goes behind the second non-zero, exponent is the number of times the decimal moves, + exponent for >1, - exponent for <1

• decimal goes behind the second non-zero, exponent is the number of times the decimal moves, + exponent for <1, - exponent for >1

The correct scientific notation for this number is: 67,400,000

• 6.74 x 10⁷

• 67.4 x 10⁶

• 6.74 x 10^-7

• 674 x 10⁵

The correct scientific notation is: 0.000044

• 4.4 x 10⁵

• 44 x 10⁴

• 44 x 10^-4

• 4.4 x 10^-5

The expanded form of 3.4 x 10⁴ is

• 0.00034

• 340

• 3400

• 34000

The expanded form for 5.64 x 10^-1 is?

• 56.4

• 0.564

• 564

• 0.0564