Physics for Scientists and Engineers 3rd Edition by Randall Knight, Chapter 1 Conceptual Question 1
How many significant figures does each of the following numbers have? a) 53.2 b) 0.53 c) 5.320 d) 0.0532
How many significant figures does each of the following numbers have? a) 53.2 b) 0.53 c) 5.320 d) 0.0532 Solution:
All nonzero digits are significant, therefore, 53.2 has 3 significant figures.
The number 0.53 can be written in scientific notation as . Therefore, 0.53 has 2 significant figures.
Trailing zeros are significant because they indicate increased…