ELi5: Significant figures

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if the zeroes of 0.000005 is not significant then might as well throw em all in the trash and put it as 5

So, 0.000005 is = 5 which is obviously wrong

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Can someone explain to me what perspective I need to understand them? And also why my mindset is wrong

In: Mathematics

8 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Sure. The number of zeros ***is*** significant. You can’t just throw them away. Zeros are only insignificant if they are leading zeros *to the left* of the decimal point.

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