1.

01 Numbers and units

Write numbers in powers of ten (standard form / scientific
notation)
Understand the meaning of significant figures and how to
calculate it
 For a complete measurement you need a number
and a unit, this is called a physical quantity
 Thus, 10 m really means 10 times m just as in
algebra.
◦ When doing calculations units should be included at all
stages of a calculation, not just at the end! However, to
make the calculation much easier and neat, units are only
written at the end.

 If a rectangle measures 3 m by 2 m, its area will

be: 3 m x 2 m = 6 m2
 If a girl cycles 10 m in 2 s, her speed will be:
10 m / 2 s = 5 m/s or 5 ms-1

Combining units
Physical quantity
 For any large or small (long) number to be
written, there are two problems that arises:
1. Writing lots of zeros
2. Finding which zeros are accurate

 Therefore, numbers were written using powers of

ten to show:
1. How many significant figures are there
2. How many times the number has to be multiplied or
divided by 10.

Standard form or scientific notation

 This way of writing numbers is called standard
form or scientific notation
 3.2 x 105
◦ tells that the figures 3 and 2 are significant and 3.2 is
multiplied by 10 five times

 3.85 x 10-4
◦ tells that the figures 3, 8 and 5 are significant and 3.85
is divided by 10 four times

Standard form or scientific notation

1. Let the number be between 1 & 9
2. Multiply it by 10x where x is the number of
digits the decimal moved, to let the number be
between 1 & 9
3. X has positive sign if decimals are moved to
the left (greater than 1) and negative if
decimals are moved to the right (lower than 1)

Rules of writing numbers in standard form

1) 86000
8.6 x 104

2) 0.0049
4.9 x 10-3
3) 1120 x 10-6
1.120 x 10-3 Write these numbers in
4) 11.0 standard form
1.10 x 101
5) 4/200
2 x 10-2
6) 3.002 x 10-6
3.002 x 10-6

Example 1
 Every measurement of a quantity is an attempt to
find its true value and is subject to errors arising
from limitations of the apparatus and the
experimenter.
 The number of significant figures, given for a
measurement indicates how accurate we think it is
and more figures should not be given than justified!
 0.0385 has 3 significant figures where 3 being the
most significant and 5 the least (perhaps it is 4 or
6!)

Significant figures
1. All nonzero digits are significant.
2. If the number is expressed in standard form,
the number of digits before the power of ten are
significant.
3. Zeros are also significant with two exceptions:
a. Zeros following the last non zero digit for whole
numbers.

b. Zeros following the decimal point and preceding the

first nonzero digit for numbers less than 1.

Rules for determining number of

significant figures
1. 2345 4 sig fig

2. 234500 4 sig fig

3. 0.05800 4 sig fig

4. 10.05800 7 sig fig

5. 4.548 x 103 4 sig fig

6. 152 x 106 3 sig fig

How many significant

figures are there in
these numbers?
Example 2
 When doing a calculation, the answer should have
the same number of significant figures as the
measurement used in the calculation
◦ hence, you either round the least significant figure by 1 or
keep it as it is, depending on the following number if it is
more or less than 5, respectively.

 3.4185 ≈ 3 sig fig 3.42

 6.3041 ≈ 3 sig fig 6.30

 32445.34 ≈ 4 sig fig 32450

3 sig fig 32400
2 sig fig 32000

Rounding
1. When adding or subtracting numbers, the end
result should have the same number of decimal
places as the number with the least number of
decimal places.
 Y = 232.234 + 0.27 = 232.504 ≈ 232.50

2. When multiplying or dividing, the end result

should have the same number of significant digits
as the number with the least number of significant
digits.
 Y = 28 x 47.3 = 1324.4 ≈ 1300

Rules for calculating an appropriate

number of significant figures
Ex 3. A rectangular block measures 4.1 cm by
2.8 cm by 2.1 cm. Calculate its volume to the
appropriate number of significant figures?
 Volume = 4.1 cm x 2.8 cm x 2.1 cm = 24.108cm3
≈ 24 cm3 (Appropriate number of sig fig)

Example 3
Ex 4. Two students measured the volume of a liquid
in two different measuring cylinders and recorded
their readings as follows: 17 cm3, 17.0 cm3. Suggest
why the second student added a zero decimal to his
reading?
 Adding a zero to the reading means adding extra
significant figures, and significant figures are used
to show how much the number is accurate. Thus,
17.0 cm3 means that the student is pretty sure of
the number 17 or in other words, he or she used a
more precise measuring cylinder than the first
one.

Example 4
Q1. Determine the number of significant figures for
those numbers and write them in standard form:
a. 3500 b. 27.120 c. 0.0105
d. 3/60000 e. 8100 x 10-6 f. 8.00
g. 10.02 h. 50,000,000

Homework