Significant Figures and Calculations

Significant figures are the digits in a number that contribute to its precision, including all non-zero digits, any zeros between significant digits, and trailing zeros in the decimal portion.

In addition or subtraction, the result should be rounded to the least number of decimal places of any number in the operation.

In multiplication or division, the result should have the same number of significant figures as the number with the least significant figures in the operation.

Trailing zeros in a decimal number are significant because they indicate precision. For example, 2.300 has four significant figures.

There are three significant figures in 0.00456.

In whole numbers, only non-zero digits are significant, and any zeros to the left of the first non-zero digit are not significant.

123.456 rounded to three significant figures is 123.

The result is 235, rounded to the nearest whole number.

1000 has one significant figure unless specified otherwise (e.g., 1000. has four significant figures).

The answer is 6.3 x 10^8, which has two significant figures.