When determining the number of significant figures, the zeros used to position the comma are not taken into account. The number 0.0023 has only two significant figures. The number 0.0000002354 has four significant figures.
Writing the number in scientific notation shows the significant figures more clearly: 2.3 10 -3 and 2.354 10 -7 .
How many significant figures does the number 2,300 10 5 have? The answer is four significant figures; And 2.0300 10 -20 ? The answer is five significant figures.
Product and quotient: "The result of multiplying or dividing two numbers has no more significant figures than the number with least significant figures used in the operation."
See the following examples:
The final result has three significant figures, the same as 5.82. The calculator returns 119.06556.
Final result with three significant figures. The result of the calculator is: 19.0035