CHEM 1070 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Trailing Zero, Scientific Notation, Decimal Mark
Document Summary
Unit: standard, agreed on quantity by which other quantities are measured. More digits = more precision; less digits = less precision. Scientific notation: write numbers with many zeros compactly. A number written in scientific notation consists of a decimar part (a number that is usually between 1 and 10) and an exponential part (10 raised to an exponent n) Significant figures (digits): non place-holding digits in measurement. To determine the number of significant figures: Interior zeros (zeros between 2 numbers) are significant. Trailing zeros (zeros to the right of a nonzero number) that fall after a decimal point are significant. Trailing zeros that fall before a decimal point are significant. Leading zeros (zeros to the left of the first nonzero number) aren"t significant. Trailing zeros at the end of the number but before implied decimal point, are ambiguous, and should be avoided by using scientific notation. Exact numbers have an unlimited number of significant figures.
