Significant figures or decimal places? (1 Viewer)

[Dangar]

When we calculate an answer form data that is given to us how many significant figures do we give our answer to?? Is it the lowest number of significant figures in the data or the lowest number of decimal places? Our textbook seems to randomly choose how many it gives it's answer to...
Do you think we'd lose marks for doing this wrong?

 

[Antisocial]

I give all my calculated answers in scientific notation..

 

[Chand]

I give to scientific notation as well, but as a precaution I write the long answer and then write the rounded up.
0.0236658...
2.4 x 10^-2
You just have to make sure that you don't round off at the beginning and you only round off your end answer.

 

[Rahul]

use scientific notion where possible, usually 2 decimal places is enough. i mean they wont take marks off if you wrote 19.23 instead of 19.228

 

[Skunkylicious]

Use whatever the question gives or asks. if the question is in scientific notation answer in scientific. maybe that's why the text book randomly chooses?

~jessie~

 

[Dangar]

Yeah, I do it in scientific notation too, but what i meant was say they give you 1.345 x 10^8 km and 5.3 x 10^3 sec and you had to do a calculation and say the answer you got was 435.3452456etc. x 10^18. (I'm just making these numbers up)

So you write the long answer down... but then for your rounded off answer would you give it to 2 significant figures because that was the least accurate data you were given in the first place, or to 1 decimal place? Or would you just not bother and give it to 2 decimal places no matter what??

 

[ND]

Write your answer to whatever your least accurate data was.