Khan/khan-exercises — Issue #4059: Significant figures 1 - Significant Figures Problems Wrong
Author: KhanBugz
Created: 2011-10-09 17:02:50+00:00
State: open
Labels: firefox, xp

Reporter: Mike.Noll@jhuapl.edu

The problems on significant figures count zeros as significant figures if they are shown to the right of the decimal but not if they are shown to the left of the decimal. There should be no difference, they should be counted the same, and they should not be counted at all.

Ex: 0.12340 would be said to have 5 significant figures, but 12340 would be said to have 4 significant figures. Well, how many significant figures does 0.12340 x 10^5? Is it 4 or 5? It has the value 12340 but has the same decimal format of 0.12340.

The answer should be 4 significant digits in both cases.

[significant_figures_1.html?seed=148&problem=0](http://sandcastle.khanacademy.org/media/castles/Khan:master/exercises/significant_figures_1.html?seed=148&problem=0)

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