An important concept in scientific measurement, as they indicate the precision and reliability of a measurement
Rules for Significant Figures
Non-Zero Digits
Leading Zeros
Captive Zeros
Trailing Zeros
Counting Zeros
Exact Numbers
Non-Zero Digits
All non-zero digits are considered significant
Leading Zeros
Leading zeros (zeros to the left of the first non-zero digit) are not significant
Captive Zeros
Captive zeros (zeros between non-zero digits) are always significant
Trailing Zeros
Trailing zeros (zeros to the right of the last non-zero digit) in a decimal number are significant
Counting Zeros
In whole numbers, trailing zeros may or may not be significant. To remove ambiguity, scientific notation is often used
Exact Numbers
Exact numbers, such as counting numbers (e.g., 3 apples), have an infinite number of significant figures
Scientific notation
A system used to express numbers as the product of a coefficient and a power of 10
Large Numbers
2,300,000 can be written as 2.3×10^8
Small Numbers
0.000045 can be expressed as 4.5×10^-5
Speed of Light
The speed of light in a vacuum is approximately 299,792,458 meters per second. In scientific notation, this is 2.99792458×10^8 m/s
Unit conversion
1. Identify the Quantity
2. Understand the Equivalence
3. Use Conversion Factors
4. Multiply and Divide
Unit conversion is a fundamental skill in science and engineering. It allows us to express measurements in different units while preserving the underlying quantity being measured
