How does this work? For instance,
does 8.27*10^7 - 8.27*10^6 equal 7.44*10^7 or 7.4*10^7
it is about the number of decimal places, or the actual place value?
Thanks,
D. Callos
Addition and subtraction of significant figures with scientific notation?
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Re: Addition and subtraction of significant figures with scientific notation?
When adding and subtracting I believe you are supposed to round the answer to the smallest decimal place.
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Re: Addition and subtraction of significant figures with scientific notation?
When using significant figures during addition and subtraction, you have to round to the decimal place of the least accurate number.
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Re: Addition and subtraction of significant figures with scientific notation?
I've heard a lot of students in other classes saying that sig figs and which decimal place to round to depends on the professor or the TA in question. Is there a universal guideline, like the MLA citation format or the SI unit system but for sig figs? I've just heard so many different variations on these rules; it seems like no one has a clear answer that they can confidently say is universally agreed upon.
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Re: Addition and subtraction of significant figures with scientific notation?
When adding or subtracting numbers, it says in page 27 that number of decimal places in answer should have smallest number of decimal places in the data and we do not use sf. Since 8.27*10^7 and 8.27*10^6 both have same number of decimal places, I believe that the answer should be 7.44*10^7. On the other hand, when we do multiplication and division, we have to use sf for our answers.
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