PHYSICS 1A03 Lecture Notes - Fall 2018 Lecture 5 - Significant figures, Scientific notation
21 Sep 2018
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Step 1: calculate the numbers in the bracket if there is any brackets. Depends on which number has the least significant figures. Because 567 has 3 significant figures is less than 1234 which has 4 significant figures. Decimal place -> which number has less decimal numbers. Order of magnitude : (cid:883)(cid:882) (n=positive or negative integers) Step1: take a guess ->estimate the demission of good a and good b. For our example: cds ~ 10cm x 10cm = 100 cm2. Classroom ~ 10m x 20m = 200 m2. Step2: covert units to same units (eg. meters) For our example: cds ~100 cm2 =1x10-2 m2. For our example: classroom / cds = (2x102 m2)/ (1x10-2 m2) = 2x104 (2 may be changed due to estimate error, but 104 do not change) Type 2: to approximate the mass of good a (eg. brain) and the number of good.
