Gokul Mukunda Significant Digits and their Importance to Chemistry Significant digits, or significant figures, are very important

to the study of chemistry. Significant digits are a form of error representation that display how certain the person taking the measurement is of that measurements accuracy. To utilize significant digits properly is to measure up to how accurate your tool is, and then to estimate one more digit. Therefore anyone who looks at your measurement will know exactly how accurate your instrument is. Significant digits are so important because without them there would be no standardized method of rounding. People with inaccurate tools may estimate many numbers that they are unsure of, which would lead the reader of the data to assume this information was correct even though it may not be. Significant figures show exactly how precise of a tool someone is using, and knowing how precise someones measurements are is crucial in chemistry when trying to verify another scientists work. The fact that significant figures provide a way for the reader of data to know to what degree the scientist and his tools can be trusted is one of the reasons that these figures are so important to chemistry. Another reason that significant figures are important to chemistry is that they are very important when adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing figures with one another. When adding or subtracting significant digits the resulting numbers must have the same number of digits as the least accurate number. When multiplying or dividing figures the resulting answer must have no more digits than the least accurate number. This aspect of significant digits is crucial to chemistry because if this standardized system for doing math and rounding did not exist then measurement could be represented as far more accurate than they actually are. For example 6.53g and 5.52g are measurements taken with reasonably precise instruments, when you multiple them together (6.53g*5.52g=36.0456g2). 36.0456g2 is a phenomenally precise measurement, and it simply defies logic that such an amazing measurement could arise from moderately precise numbers. Therefore significant figures are monumentally important in that they provide a basis for rounding in mathematical calculations, and mathematical calculations are used in all aspects of chemistry.