Significant Figures - Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division & Scientific Notation Sig Figs | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

This video explains the rules for determining significant figures and provides examples for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Key Insights

• #️⃣ Non-zero numbers are always significant.
• #️⃣ Zeros between significant numbers are significant.
• 😥 Trailing zeros without a decimal point are not significant.
• 😥 Zeros after a decimal point are significant.
• 🛝 For multiplication and division, round to the least number of significant figures.
• 🧘 For addition and subtraction, round according to the position of the least significant figure.
• ❤️‍🩹 Rounding should be done at the end of a calculation, not during intermediate steps.

Transcript

in this video we're going to focus on significant figures the rules behind addition subtraction multiplication and division we're going to go over some examples including some combined operations problems where you have both addition subtraction and multiplication combined so let's begin the first thing that you need to be able to do is you need to... Read More

Questions & Answers

Q: How many significant figures are in the number 468?

There are three significant figures in the number 468 because all non-zero numbers are significant.

Q: How many significant figures are in the number 7030 without a decimal point?

In the number 7030 without a decimal point, there are three significant figures because trailing zeros without a decimal point are not significant.

Q: How many significant figures are in the number 50.500?

The number 50.500 has five significant figures because zeros after a decimal point are significant.

Q: What are the rules for rounding numbers to the appropriate number of significant figures?

For multiplication and division, round the final answer to the least number of significant figures. For addition and subtraction, round the final answer according to the position of the least significant figure.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The video explains how to determine the number of significant figures in a given number.

• Non-zero numbers are always significant, zeros between significant numbers are also significant, trailing zeros without a decimal point are not significant, and zeros after a decimal point are significant.

• The video demonstrates how to round the results of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to the appropriate number of significant figures.