CHEM 1404 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Significant Figures, Trailing Zero, 5,6,7,8

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2 Mar 2017
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3 rst let"s go over some terminology. zero digits are always significant. Scientists imply the level of precision in measurements by how they report the number. Unlike in mathematics where 25 and 25. 0 are identical, a measurement of 25 cm in science means something drastically different than a measurement of. Scientific measurements are reported to one digit more than what is known with certainty. A reported value of 25 cm implies that the actual value is somewhere between 24 cm and 26 cm, approximately. In contrast, a reported value of 25. 0 cm implies that the actual value is somewhere between 24. 9 cm and 25. 1 cm, approximately. To know which digits in a number are significant, fi. Non-zero digits are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 (any digit other than zero). Leading zeros are those that come before all the non-zero digits (but not necessarily before the decimal point).