Can you round scientific notation

In multiplication and division the number of significant figures is simply determined by the value of lowest digits. This means that if you multiplied or divided three numbers: 2. Stephanie R. Scientific Notation and Significant Figures. Scientific notation… …is a way to express very small or very large numbers …is most often used in "scientific" calculations where the analysis must be very precise …consists of two parts: A Number and a Power of Significant Figures There are three rules on determining how many significant figures are in a number: Non-zero digits are always significant.

Any zeros between two significant digits are significant. A final zero or trailing zeros in the decimal portion ONLY are significant. Examples has 4 significant figures Some more examples: There are years in a century. Interestingly, the speed of light is now a defined quantity. By definition, the value is ,, meters per second. Below are the rules to follow when doing this: The application of significant figures rules while completing calculations is important and there are different ways to apply the rules based on the type of calculation being performed.

Adding the concept of scientific notation into the mix can lead to the student being so uncertain as to how to write their answer for a given question. When discussing rounding with students, typical textbook examples work with decimal numbers and introduce students to the concept of "rounding up" if the next digit is 5 or more and "rounding down" if the next digit is 4 or less, e.

In later lessons, students are taught that rounding does not only apply to decimal numbers, but to any numbers to a given level of precision, e. The digits of a number are considered significant i. Although 4 is rarely included in high-school textbooks. To better explain these rules, consider the following examples:. We can combine significant figures with rounding to round a number to a given number of significant figures. For example, if we want to round the number to four significant figures, we would get If, instead, we wanted to round it to three significant figures, we would get as the number to the right of the third digit i.

Not to be confused with significant figures, scientific notation is a method of writing numbers, especially extremely large or small numbers, in a shortened form. Again, not exactly a number we really want to write out in full all the time. Fortunately, scientific notation allows us to write such large or small numbers easily as multiples of The three significant digits are 4, 0, 3.

In scientific notation, it would be written 4. A calculator might write this as 4. The number 0. The four significant digits are 1, 3, 9, 0. In scientific notation, it would be written as 1. A software program might write this as 1. The number The four significant digits are 1, 0, 4, 2. In scientific notation, it would be written 1. A calculator might write this as 1. Exercises: Answers can be found by clicking on "Answers" below. In problems 1 through 8 , state the number of decimal places, state the number of significant digits, and write the number in scientific notation.

In problems 9 through 11 , round the number down to the stated number of decimal places. In problems 12 through 14 , round the number down to the stated number of significant digits.