The significant digits of a number are the digits that have meaning or contribute to the value of the number. Sometimes they are also called significant figures.
Which digits are significant?
There are some basic rules that tell you which digits in a number are significant:
- All non-zero digits are significant
- Any zeros between significant digits are also significant
- Trailing zeros to the right of a decimal point are significant
7352.4658 has 8 significant figures (
7,3,5,2,4,6,5 and 8 ). Count from the left, three times to land on the three significant figure. If the next digit is
5 or more, you add
1 to the digit the count ends if not you keep that digit and replace the remaining digits by zeros till the decimal point.
⇒7352.4658=7350 three significant figures