Accuracy and Rounding

Vaneet Bhardwaj,
Assistant Professor, Sharda University
Precision, Accuracy, Error
 Precision, Accuracy, Error
Precision refers to the reproducibility of a given
measurement.

Accuracy refers to the agreement between a

measurement (or average several measure-ments)
to the true or accepted value.

Errors are deviations (differences) between the true

value and a measurement. They can be random or
systematic.
Significant Digits

• The significant figures of a number are digits that carry

meaning contributing to its measurement resolution.
• This includes all digits except: All leading zeros; Trailing zeros
when they are merely placeholders to indicate the scale of the
number (exact rules are explained at identifying significant
figures); and.
• More significant digits means more accurate the data is.
Rules of Significant digits

1)  All nonzero digits are significant.

2)  All zeroes between significant digits are significant.
3)  All zeroes which are both to the right of the decimal point and
to the right of all non-zero significant digits are themselves
significant.
Some Examples
The accuracy of the answer will depend on the number of significant figures. The answer will
be more accurate, if it is given to a higher number of significant figures.
64,492 is the most accurate answer and it is given to 5 sig. figs.

***  The trailing zeros in a whole number are not significant.There are used to keep the other
figures in there correct places.
eg. 64000     6 and 4 are significant not the zeros.

*** The leading zeros in a decimal are not significant. There are used to keep the other figures
in there correct places.
eg. 0.000054 ,   only 5 and 4 are significant.

***The zeros between the figures are significant.

eg. 30.05    each figure is significant. There are 4 sig.figs. 
*** The last zero in a decimal is significant.
eg. 3.20each figure is significant. There are
      3sig.figs. 

 eg. 0.50, 5 and last zero are significant.There are

       2 sigfigs
Rounding