Doc Al said:Don't round off until the last step.
Doc Al said:You can know how many sig figs in each step and still not round off until the end.
Significant figures are digits in a number that are considered to be accurate and reliable based on the precision of the measurement. They indicate the degree of uncertainty in a measured value and are used to express the precision of a number.
The general rules for determining the number of significant figures in a number are:
Using significant figures in calculations helps to maintain the appropriate level of precision and avoid misleading results. It ensures that the calculated result is no more precise than the least precise measurement used in the calculation.
When performing calculations with significant figures, the result should be rounded to the same number of significant figures as the input number with the least number of significant figures. In addition, intermediate calculations should be carried out to one extra significant figure to avoid rounding errors.
There are a few exceptions to the rules for determining significant figures. For example, in exact numbers, such as counting objects, all digits are considered significant. In addition, numbers that are obtained from defined constants, such as the speed of light, are considered to have an infinite number of significant figures. Lastly, when using logarithms, the number of significant figures is determined by the number of digits after the decimal point.