Identifying of significant digits in a value
Significant digits in a value are the digits that carry meaning contributing to the precision of the value.
Rules for identifying significant digits in a value:
1. All nonzero digits are considered significant.
2. Zeros between nonzero digits are considered significant.
3. Leading zeros are not considered significant.
4. Trailing zeros to the right of the decimal point are considered significant.
5. Trailing zeros in a whole number with no decimal point may or may not be significant, depending on the context in which they are used.
For example:
1. In the number 3456, all digits are significant.
2. In the number 0.0042, both digits (4 and 2) are significant.
3. In the number 2300, the two leading zeros are not significant, and only the 2 and 3 are significant.
4. In the number 6.200, all four digits are significant, including the trailing zero after the decimal point.
5. In the number 64000, the zeros may or may not be significant depending on the context. If it is known that the value has 2 significant digits, then the zeros are not significant. However, if it is known to have 5 significant digits, then all digits are significant.