Thus, the number “3,005” is said to have four significant figures. However, if we were to say that the car weighed 3,005 pounds, the fact that the weight is not rounded to the nearest thousand pounds tells us that the two zeros in the middle aren’t just placeholders, but that all four digits of the number “3,005” are significant to its representative accuracy. That rounded figure of 3,000 has only one significant digit: the “3” in front-the zeros merely serve as placeholders. For example, if we were to say that a car weighs 3,000 pounds, we probably don’t mean that the car in question weighs exactly 3,000 pounds, but that we’ve rounded its weight to a value more convenient to say and remember. The significant digits in a real-world measurement are typically reflective of the accuracy of that measurement.
ENGINEERING CALCULATOR WITH PREFIXES PLUS
We call the span of non-zero digits (from first to last), plus any zero digits not merely used for placeholding, the “significant digits” of any number. For the number of electrons per second in 1 amp, we have “625” followed by 16 zeros. For the mass of the proton, all we have is a “167” preceded by 23 zeros before the decimal point. Take note of those two numbers and of the relative sparsity of non-zero digits in them. Or, consider the number of electrons passing by a point in a circuit every second with a steady electric current of 1 amp:ġ amp = 6,250,000,000,000,000,000 electrons per secondĪ lot of zeros, isn’t it? Obviously, it can get quite confusing to have to handle so many zero digits in numbers such as this, even with the help of calculators and computers. Take for example the mass of a proton, one of the constituent particles of an atom’s nucleus:
Some of these quantities are mind-boggling in their size, either extremely small or extremely large. In many disciplines of science and engineering, very large and very small numerical quantities must be managed.
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