Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Significant Figures and
Scientific Notation
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
ATTENDANCE QUIZ
Fill in the blank with the correct term.
A ____________is a fraction with the
given unit and the unknown unit.
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Significant figures (sig. figs) are those digits in
a number or measurement that are not being
used and considered as place-values. Zeroes
are not significant if they are used only to
indicate the position of the decimal point. For
example, if the length of a computer desk, as
measured by a ruler graduated in millimeters,
was found to be 1564.3mm, the measurement
has five significant figures.
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Significant figures (sig. figs) also called
significant digits, are used to report a value,
measured or calculated, to the correct number
of decimal places or digits that will reflect the
precision of the value
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Significant figures (sig. figs) also called
significant digits, are used to report a value,
measured or calculated, to the correct number
of decimal places or digits that will reflect the
precision of the value
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Rules for Significant Figures
1. Nonzero digits are always
significant
38.57 mL (4)
288 g (3)
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Rules for Significant Figures
2. Zeroes are sometimes significant, and sometimes they are not.
a. Zeroes at the beginning of a number (used just to position the
decimal point) are never significant.
0.052 g (2) or 5.2X10-2 g 0.00364 m (3) or
3.64x10-3m
b. Zeroes between nonzero digits are always significant.
2007 g (4) 6.08
km (3)
c. Zeroes at the end of a number that contains a decimal point are
always significant.
38.0 cm (3) or 38.0x101 cm 440.0 m (4) or
4.400x102 m
d. Zeroes at the end of a number that does not contain a decimal
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Rules for Significant Figures
3. Exact numbers can be considered as having an unlimited number
of significant figures. This applies to defined quantities.
1 yard = 3 ft 1 in. = 2.54 cm (we do not apply sig. figures)
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Rules for Significant Figures
4. In addition and subtraction, the last digit retained in the
sum or difference is determined by the position of the first
doubtful digit.
a. Add 37.24 mL and 10.3 mL b. Subtract 21.2342 g from 27.87 g
37.24 mL
27.87 g
+10.3 mL
-21.2342 g
47.54 mL
6.6358 g
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Rules for Significant Figures
5. In multiplication and division, an answer contains
no more significant figures than the least number of
significant figures used in the operation.
What is the area of a rectangle 1.23 cm wide and 12.34
cm long?
A = l x w = (12.34 cm)(1.23 cm) = 15.2 cm2
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
What is scientific notation?
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Scientific notation (also referred to as standard form or
standard index form) is a way of expressing numbers in
decimal form. Scientific notation was developed in order
to easily represent numbers that are either very large or
very small. In this way, very large or very small numbers
can be represented in a much simpler way
(any number between 1 and 10) x 10n
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
Lesson 2 Significant Figures and Scientific Notation
