Significant Figures in quantity?

Question

I am still having trouble grasping significant figures.

How many significant figures would be in this quantity?

$01010.0$

I feel like it is 3, but not quite sure.

Should be 5. The only reason you would include the 0 to the right of the decimal would be because it was significant. — turkeyhundt, Sep 03 '15 at 01:58

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 03 '15 at 01:27

1

It should be 5. If I recall correctly, when you explicitly add zeroes on the end of a decimal then they count as significant figures.

EDIT: source

answered Sep 03 '15 at 01:27

Zubin Mukerjee

17,832

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 03 '15 at 01:28

It's $5$ significant digits, the zero in front does not mean anything. The $1010$ is all significant because the zero i sandwiched between and there is a decimal point, and the $.0$ is also significant because it tells you we measured to this decimal point.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 03 '15 at 01:29

1

It looks as though it is correct as written, with 5 digits. There is only .0 behind 1010.

answered Sep 03 '15 at 01:29

user242559

458

Significant Figures in quantity?

3 Answers3