All High School Physics Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Understanding Significant Figures
How many significant figures should be in the solution to the given equation?
Two
Six
One
Three
Zero
One
Leading and trailing zeroes are not considered significant. To make this problem simpler, we may want to re-write the equation in scientific notation.
The first term still has three digits, all of which are significant. The second term, however, has been reduced to only one digit. Our term with the fewest significant figures determines how many significant figures should be in the solution. In this case, there would only be one significant figure in the solution.
Example Question #8 : Understanding Significant Figures
Which of the following numbers contains the greatest number of significant figures?
Significant figures are used to round scientific calculations in order to preserve precision. Every initial measurement will carry some degree of uncertainty or variation. It is important to carry that uncertainty to the final calculation, instead of unintentionally assigning greater certainty to the given values.
When determining significant figures, any zeroes that precede the first non-zero digit are considered insignificant and any zeroes that follow the final non-zero digit are considered insignificant. Any and all non-zero digits are significant. Sometimes it can help to write a number in scientific notation to identify significant figures.
Example Question #3 : Understanding Significant Figures
Which of the following answers does not have the correct number of significant figures associated with it?
Significant figures are used to round scientific calculations in order to preserve precision. Every initial measurement will carry some degree of uncertainty or variation. It is important to carry that uncertainty to the final calculation, instead of unintentionally assigning greater certainty to the given values.
When determining significant figures, any zeroes that precede the first non-zero digit are considered insignificant and any zeroes that follow the final non-zero digit are considered insignificant. Any and all non-zero digits are significant. Sometimes it can help to write a number in scientific notation to identify significant figures.
Example Question #4 : Understanding Significant Figures
Which of the following answers has the correct number of significant figures associated with it?
Significant figures are used to round scientific calculations in order to preserve precision. Every initial measurement will carry some degree of uncertainty or variation. It is important to carry that uncertainty to the final calculation, instead of unintentionally assigning greater certainty to the given values.
When determining significant figures, any zeroes that precede the first non-zero digit are considered insignificant and any zeroes that follow the final non-zero digit are considered insignificant. Any and all non-zero digits are significant. Sometimes it can help to write a number in scientific notation to identify significant figures.
Example Question #11 : Understanding Significant Figures
A car travels at a rate of for . How far does the car travel?
Your answer must include the appropriate number of significant figure.
When deciding how many significant figures your answer should have, base it off the given value with the fewest significant figures. In this case, the velocity has two significant figures and the time has three; therefore, our answer should have only two significant figures in order to match the least precise given value (velocity).
We can calculate our answer using the formula for velocity.
Rounded to two significant figures, we can say that the car travels .