Hey, when we solve for significant figures, why do we completely get rid of the remaining decimals even though hey have more accurate information?
Ex. 1.23*4.84=5.9532 but we would make it 5.95 based on Sig figs, even though those last two decimals are closer to the answer. Why is this? I know it’s less accurate, though it seems like we’re losing valuable accuracy (even if it’s not perfect, it should be closer)
In: Mathematics
If I stepped on a scale that only weighed me to the nearest hundred pounds, it might say I’m 100 pounds. If I wanted to know how much two of me would weigh, I could multiply that by 2 and get 200.00000… lbs. I might actually weigh 145 lbs so the real answer would be 290 lbs. Because it’s a real world measurement, there’s inherent uncertainty in the starting measurement that carries over to the answer.
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