Significant Figures and

Rounding Off Numbers

There are 3 kinds of numbers are encountered in
chemistry and in our daily life.
These are:
 Counted Items
 Defined Relations
 Measured Numbers

All the digits that are part of a measurement are

considered significant figures or significant digits.
Counted Items are expressed as exact whole
numbers.
Examples:
3 Cars
5 Houses
10 beads
Defined Relations are exact numbers but are not
always whole numbers. These are numbers come from
definition. For example
There are exactly 12 inches per foot.
There are 2.54 centimeters in one inch.
Measured Numbers are those that are obtained from
reading measuring devices; these numbers are never
exact.
The number of significant figures in a measurement
is equal to the number of digits with high certainty
plus the first uncertain digit in the measurement. For
example, 3.274 has four significant figures, the
numbers 3, 2 and 7 have high certainty, while 4 is an
approximation. The number of significant figures of
a measurement increases as the sensitivity of the
equipment used is improved.
The uncertainty of an equipment is expressed as a +
value. A top loading balance has an uncertainty of
+0.01 g.
Rules for determining the number of
significant figures of a measurement
 Every nonzero digit in a reported measurement is
significant.
 Leftmost zeros before the first nonzero digit are not
significant; they only act as placeholders to show the
position of the decimal point.
 Zeros in between nonzero digits are significant.
 Zeros to the right of a nonzero digit and to the right of the
decimal point are significant.
 Zeros at the rightmost end of a measurement that lie to
the left of an “understood decimal point” are not
significant if they serve as placeholders. If such zeros
were known measured values, then they would be
significant. These values can be clarified as significant if
they are written in scientific notation.
 Significant Figures in Mathematical Operations

 The number with the least number of decimal places

will dictate the number of decimal places in the
answer.
 In multiplying or dividing measurements, the answer
should not have more significant digits than the
measurement having the fewest significant digits.
 Rules in Rounding Off Numbers

In rounding of numbers, decide first as to how many

significant digits the answer should have. This will
depend on the given measurements and on the
mathematical operations used to obtain the answer.
Then, round off to the required number digits,
counting from the left. If the number following the
digits to be kept for the answer is less than 5, the digits
are written and reported as is.
For example, 3.084 rounded off to three digits is 3.08
If the number following the digits to be kept for the
answer is or greater, add 1 to the digit kept. As an
example, 4.899592 rounded off to four digits is 4.900.