1. Chemistry
Significant Figures

2. What makes it a sig fig? Measured in the lab!
Reports precision of instrument:

3. How do we count them?
Rules to befriend…

4. Foldable! Get three pieces of paper Fold into flip book
Title of cover: SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
Tab 1 = Nonzero’s and the captives.
Tab 2 = Zero’s in front
Tab 3 = Zero’s in back
Tab 4 = Scientific Notation & Infinite sig figs
Tab 5=
Operations

5. Page: NONZEROS
All nonzero numbers and zeros between nonzero numbers (captives) are significant.
79.3˚C
105 cm
$80305

6. Page 2: Zero’s in front Preceeding zeros are NEVER significant! 0.05 gkg L

7. Page 3: Zero’s in back
When a decimal and zeros follow a nonzero number, all are significant. $ km
Trailing zeros without a decimal are not significant unless indicated by a line mm
57000 dL
1000 g

8. Page 4: Scientific notation & Infinite significant figures
All numbers in scientific notation are significant excluding base and exponent
3.760 x 10-4
x 1015
Exact numbers are treated as having an infinite number of sig figs
1 m = 100 cm
1 km = 1000 m
3 apples

9. Rounding
Operations

10. Page 5: Operations Multiplication & Division Do operation
Round answer to least number of sig figs in original problem
21.3 g x 1.3 g =
5 cm x 25 g =
65.3 g x 7.6 mL =
3.4 g / 153 mL =

11. Addition & Subtraction
Do operation.
Round answer to least number of decimal places in original problem.
A) g
B) g
C) 13.0 g
D) 13 g
21.35 cm
4.7 cm
3.0 cm cm g g