Question

Can someone explain significant figures to me and how to find them? In a simple easy to understand way? PLEASE!?

Answer 1

Significant figures have to do with the fact that all measurements have some degree of uncertainty. if I get on a scale in themorning that only reads to the hundreds place , it would read that I weigh 200 pounds...but if it reads to the ones place it would read that I weigh 205 pounds. Since you don't know what scale I used , you don't know how accurate my measurements is. (There is always a machine that can measure it better!!) So since there is some uncertainty, there has to be some standard to everyone can follow.

All numbers 1-9 are significant....so the only annoying little critters are the zeros. Remember the following 3 rules:

Trapped zeros are significant......303 has 3 significant figures.
Leading zeros are NEVER significant.......0.003 has 1 significant figure
Trailing zeros are ONLY significant if the number conatians a decimal.........300 has 1 significant figure, but 300.0 has 4 significant figures.....good luck!!

Answer 2

When adding 22.45 + 22.1 you only get to add to 1 place after decimal call it rule one. When taking 40.1 X 12 you only get to use 2 sig figs only in the product and call it rule two. When (22.1+22.65)/12 you have to use rule one then rule two. you get 1 sig fig after the addition, then you can only get 2 sig figs total in the answer.And what the above person said about determining sig figs