Chapter 1, Problem 1.58P

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

Error made by the guide has to be explained using the concept of significant figures.

Concept Introduction:

Precision is a state which tells about the closeness of the result to each other in an experiment.  During a measurement, significant figures are used to tell about the uncertainty present in it.

There are six rules for determining the number of significant figures.  They are given as follows.

• Nonzero digits and the zeros that are present between nonzero digits are significant.
• Zeros that are used merely to position the decimal are not significant.
• If zeros are present in the right end of the decimal point, then the zeros are significant.
• If zeros are present in the result are not in right of the decimal point, then the zeros may or may not be significant.
• If the zeros disappear when scientific notation is used means then those zeros are not significant.
• Exact numbers have no limit to their precision and they do not obey the rules given for significant figures.