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significant figure

234.54 to two significant figures
Reply 1
230
Original post by Courtneyward
234.54 to two significant figures


230
230 million
Reply 4
Original post by AstroNandos
230 million


Have you considered a career in comedy?
Wikipedia says this:



The significance of trailing zeros in a number not containing a decimal point can be ambiguous. For example, it may not always be clear if a number like 1300 is precise to the nearest unit (and just happens coincidentally to be an exact multiple of a hundred) or if it is only shown to the nearest hundred due to rounding or uncertainty. Various conventions exist to address this issue:



A bar may be placed over the last significant figure; any trailing zeros following this are insignificant. For example, 1300 has three significant figures (and hence indicates that the number is precise to the nearest ten).



The last significant figure of a number may be underlined; for example, "2000" has two significant figures.



A decimal point may be placed after the number; for example "100." indicates specifically that three significant figures are meant.[2]



In the combination of a number and a unit of measurement, the ambiguity can be avoided by choosing a suitable unit prefix. For example, the number of significant figures in a mass specified as 1300 g is ambiguous, while in a mass of 13 h*g or 1.3 kg it is not.


(edited 9 years ago)

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