Sig Fig Rules

[006033476]

If tailing zeros in sig figs are not significant, why are leading zeros and zeros between nonzero digits significant?

[Stephanie_manasyan]

Hi, so the leading zeros are known as placeholder zeros and don't add to the precision of the measurement. However, trailing zeros with a decimal are significant because they represent the precision of a measurement. That is why we count them as significant figures. Hope this helps.

[noree_jauregui]

Tailing zeros and the zeros in between nonzeros digits in sig figs are actually significant. It's the leading zeros that aren't significant. This is because tailing zeros and the zeros in between indicate the precision of the measurements. For example, 0.00706 is 7.06*10^-3.