Significant Figures
Channel: drbodwin
Date: 24/05/2022

Significant figures are a way to communicate the certainty (or uncertainty) in a number. By following some basic rules, you can decide whether to report a number as 8.46 or 8.45917538.

NOTE: If you're collecting actual data, it's almost always better to collect multiple data points and use statistical tools to determine the uncertainty in the value you report. Sig fig rules are useful when you do NOT have that context of a repeated measurement.

Slides can be found here: http://chembits.com/GenChem/SigFigs2021a.pdf