The significant figures (also known as the significant digits) of a number are digits that carry meaning

contributing to its measurement resolution. This includes all digits except:[1]

 All leading zeros;

 Trailing zeros when they are merely placeholders to indicate the scale of the number (exact rules are
explained at identifying significant figures); and
 Spurious digits introduced, for example, by calculations carried out to greater precision than that of the
original data, or measurements reported to a greater precision than the equipment supports.
Significance arithmetic are approximate rules for roughly maintaining significance throughout a computation.
The more sophisticated scientific rules are known as propagation of uncertainty.
Numbers are often rounded to avoid reporting insignificant figures. For example, it would create false
precision to express a measurement as 12.34500 kg (which has seven significant figures) if the scales only
measured to the nearest gram and gave a reading of 12.345 kg (which has five significant figures). Numbers
can also be rounded merely for simplicity rather than to indicate a given precision of measurement, for
example, to make them faster to pronounce in news broadcasts.

Contents

 1Identifying significant figures

o 1.1Concise rules
o 1.2Significant figures rules explained
o 1.3Scientific notation
 2Rounding and decimal places
 3Arithmetic
 4Estimating tenths
 5Estimation
 6Relationship to accuracy and precision in measurement
 7In computing
 8See also
 9References
 10External links

Identifying significant figures[edit]

Concise rules[edit]
 All non-zero digits are significant: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
 Zeros between non-zero digits are significant: 102, 2005, 50009.
 Leading zeros are never significant: 0.02, 001.887, 0.000515.
 In a number with a decimal point, trailing zeros (those to the right of the last non-zero digit) are
significant: 2.02000, 5.400, 57.5400.
 In a number without a decimal point, trailing zeros may or may not be significant. More information
through additional graphical symbols or explicit information on errors is needed to clarify the significance
of trailing zeros.
Significant figures rules explained[edit]
Specifically, the rules for identifying significant figures when writing or interpreting numbers are as follows:[2]
 All non-zero digits are considered significant. For example, 91 has two significant figures (9 and 1), while
123.45 has five significant figures (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5).
 Zeros appearing anywhere between two non-zero digits are significant: 101.1203 has seven significant
figures: 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 0 and 3.
 Zeros to the left of the significant figures are not significant. For example, 0.00052 has two significant
figures: 5 and 2.
Zeros to the right of the significant figures in a number containing a decimal point are significant. For
example, 12.2300 has six significant figures: 1, 2, 2, 3, 0 and 0. The number 0.000122300 still has only six
significant figures (the zeros before the 1 are not significant). In addition, 120.00 has five significant figures
since it has three trailing zeros. This convention clarifies the precision of such numbers; for example, if a
measurement precise to four decimal places (0.0001) is given as 12.23 then it might be understood that only
two decimal places of precision are available. Stating the result as 12.2300 makes clear that it is precise to four
decimal places (in this case, six significant figures).

 The significance of trailing zeros in a number not containing a decimal point can be ambiguous. For
example, it may not always be clear if a number like 1300 is precise to the nearest unit (and just happens
coincidentally to be an exact multiple of a hundred) or if it is only shown to the nearest hundred due to
rounding or uncertainty. Many conventions exist to address this issue:

 An overline, sometimes also called an overbar, or less accurately, a vinculum, may be placed over
the last significant figure; any trailing zeros following this are insignificant. For example, 1300
has three significant figures (and hence indicates that the number is precise to the nearest ten).

 Less often, using a closely related convention, the last significant figure of a number may
be underlined; for example, "2000" has two significant figures.

 A decimal point may be placed after the number; for example "100." indicates specifically that
three significant figures are meant.[3]

 In the combination of a number and a unit of measurement, the ambiguity can be avoided by
choosing a suitable unit prefix. For example, the number of significant figures in a mass specified
as 1300 g is ambiguous, while in a mass of 13 hg or 1.3 kg it is not.

 The number can be expressed in Scientific Notation (see below).

However, these conventions are not universally used, and it is often necessary to determine from
context whether such trailing zeros are intended to be significant. If all else fails, the level of rounding
can be specified explicitly. The abbreviation s.f. is sometimes used, for example "20 000 to 2 s.f." or
"20 000 (2 sf)". Alternatively, the uncertainty can be stated separately and explicitly with a plus-minus
sign, as in 20 000 ± 1%, so that significant-figures rules do not apply. This also allows specifying a
precision in-between powers of ten (or whatever the base power of the numbering system is).
Scientific notation[edit]
In most cases, the same rules apply to numbers expressed in scientific notation.
However, in the normalized form of that notation, placeholder leading and trailing
digits do not occur, so all digits are significant. For example, 0.00012 (two
significant figures) becomes 1.2×10−4, and 0.00122300 (six significant figures)
becomes 1.22300×10−3. In particular, the potential ambiguity about the significance
of trailing zeros is eliminated. For example, 1300 to four significant figures is
written as 1.300×103, while 1300 to two significant figures is written as 1.3×103.
The part of the representation that contains the significant figures (as opposed to
the base or the exponent) is known as the significand or mantissa.
Rounding and decimal places[edit]
The basic concept of significant figures is often used in connection with rounding.
Rounding to significant figures is a more general-purpose technique than rounding
to n decimal places, since it handles numbers of different scales in a uniform way.
For example, the population of a city might only be known to the nearest thousand
and be stated as 52,000, while the population of a country might only be known to
the nearest million and be stated as 52,000,000. The former might be in error by
hundreds, and the latter might be in error by hundreds of thousands, but both have
two significant figures (5 and 2). This reflects the fact that the significance of the
error (its likely size relative to the size of the quantity being measured) is the same
in both cases.
To round to n significant figures:[4][5]

 Identify the significant figures before rounding. These are the n consecutive
digits beginning with the first non-zero digit.
 If the digit immediately to the right of the last significant figure is greater than
5 or is a 5 followed by other non-zero digits, add 1 to the last significant figure.
For example, 1.2459 as the result of a calculation or measurement that only
allows for 3 significant figures should be written 1.25.
 If the digit immediately to the right of the last significant figure is a 5 not
followed by any other digits or followed only by zeros, rounding requires a tie-
breaking rule. For example, to round 1.25 to 2 significant figures:
 Round half away from zero (also known as "5/4")[citation needed] rounds up to
1.3. This is the default rounding method implied in many disciplines[citation
needed]
if not specified.
 Round half to even, which rounds to the nearest even number, rounds
down to 1.2 in this case. The same strategy applied to 1.35 would instead
round up to 1.4.
 Replace non-significant figures in front of the decimal point by zeros.
 Drop all the digits after the decimal point to the right of the significant figures
(do not replace them with zeros).
In financial calculations, a number is often rounded to a given number of places
(for example, to two places after the decimal separator for many world currencies).
Rounding to a fixed number of decimal places in this way is an orthographic
convention that does not maintain significance, and may either lose information or
create false precision.
In UK personal tax returns payments received are always rounded down to the
nearest pound, whilst tax paid is rounded up although tax deducted at source is
calculated to the nearest penny. This creates an interesting situation where anyone
with tax accurately deducted at source has a significant likelihood of a small rebate
if they complete a tax return.
As an illustration, the decimal quantity 12.345 can be expressed with various
numbers of significant digits or decimal places. If insufficient precision is available
then the number is rounded in some manner to fit the available precision. The
following table shows the results for various total precisions and decimal places.
 Rounded to Rounded to
Precision significant figures decimal places

6 12.3450 12.345000

5 12.345 12.34500

4 12.35 12.3450

3 12.3 12.345

2 12 12.35

1 10 12.3

0 N/A 12

Another example for 0.012345:

Rounded to Rounded to
Precision significant figures decimal places

7 0.01234500 0.0123450

6 0.0123450 0.012345

5 0.012345 0.01235

4 0.01235 0.0123

3 0.0123 0.012
 2 0.012 0.01

1 0.01 0.0

0 N/A 0

The representation of a positive number x to a precision of p significant digits has a

numerical value that is given by the formula:[citation needed]
round(10−n⋅x)⋅10n, where n = floor(log10 x) + 1 − p.
For negative numbers, the formula can be used on the absolute value; for zero,
no transformation is necessary. Note that the result may need to be written with
one of the above conventions explained in the section "Identifying significant
figures" to indicate the actual number of significant digits if the result includes
for example trailing significant zeros.

Arithmetic[edit]
Main article: Significance arithmetic
As there are rules for determining the number of significant figures in
directly measured quantities, there are rules for determining the number of
significant figures in quantities calculated from these measured quantities.
Only measured quantities figure into the determination of the number of
significant figures in calculated quantities. Exact mathematical quantities like
the π in the formula for the area of a circle with radius r, πr2 has no effect on
the number of significant figures in the final calculated area. Similarly the ½ in
the formula for the kinetic energy of a mass m with velocity v, ½mv2, has no
bearing on the number of significant figures in the final calculated kinetic
energy. The constants π and ½ are considered to have an infinite number of
significant figures.
For quantities created from measured quantities
by multiplication and division, the calculated result should have as many
significant figures as the measured number with the least number of significant
figures. For example,
1.234 × 2.0 = 2.468… ≈ 2.5,
with only two significant figures. The first factor has four significant
figures and the second has two significant figures. The factor with the
least number of significant figures is the second one with only two, so the
final calculated result should also have a total of two significant figures.
For quantities created from measured quantities
by addition and subtraction, the last significant decimal place (hundreds,
tens, ones, tenths, and so forth) in the calculated result should be the same
as the leftmost or largest decimal place of the last significant figure out of
all the measured quantities in the terms of the sum. For example,
100.0 + 1.234 = 101.234… ≈ 101.2
with the last significant figure in the tenths place. The first term has
its last significant figure in the tenths place and the second term has
its last significant figure in the thousandths place. The leftmost of the
decimal places of the last significant figure out of all the terms of the
sum is the tenths place from the first term, so the calculated result
should also have its last significant figure in the tenths place.
The rules for calculating significant figures for multiplication and
division are opposite to the rules for addition and subtraction. For
multiplication and division, only the total number of significant
figures in each of the factors matter; the decimal place of the last
significant figure in each factor is irrelevant. For addition and
subtraction, only the decimal place of the last significant figure in
each of the terms matters; the total number of significant figures in
each term is irrelevant.
In a base 10 logarithm of a normalized number, the result should be
rounded to the number of significant figures in the normalized
number. For example, log10(3.000×104) = log10(104) + log10(3.000) ≈ 4
+ 0.47712125472, should be rounded to 4.4771.
When taking antilogarithms, the resulting number should have as
many significant figures as the mantissa in the logarithm.
When performing a calculation, do not follow these guidelines for
intermediate results; keep as many digits as is practical (at least 1
more than implied by the precision of the final result) until the end of
calculation to avoid cumulative rounding errors.[6]

Estimating tenths[edit]
When using a ruler, initially use the smallest mark as the first
estimated digit. For example, if a ruler's smallest mark is cm, and
4.5 cm is read, it is 4.5 (±0.1 cm) or 4.4 – 4.6 cm.
It is possible that the overall length of a ruler may not be accurate to
the degree of the smallest mark and the marks may be imperfectly
spaced within each unit. However assuming a normal good quality
ruler, it should be possible to estimate tenths between the nearest two
marks to achieve an extra decimal place of accuracy.[7] Failing to do
this adds the error in reading the ruler to any error in the calibration of
the ruler.[8]

Estimation[edit]
Main article: Estimation
When estimating the proportion of individuals carrying some
particular characteristic in a population, from a random sample of that
population, the number of significant figures should not exceed the
maximum precision allowed by that sample size. The correct number
of significant figures is given by the order of magnitude of sample
size. This can be found by taking the base 10 logarithm of sample size
and rounding to the nearest integer.
For example, in a poll of 120 randomly chosen viewers of a regularly
visited web page we find that 10 people disagree with a proposition
on that web page. The order of magnitude of our sample size is
Log10(120) = 2.0791812460..., which rounds to 2. Our estimated
proportion of people who disagree with the proposition is therefore
0.083, or 8.3%, with 2 significant figures. This is because in different
samples of 120 people from this population, our estimate would vary
in units of 1/120, and any additional figures would misrepresent the
size of our sample by giving spurious precision. To interpret our
estimate of the number of viewers who disagree with the proposition
we should then calculate some measure of our confidence in this
estimate.

Relationship to accuracy and precision

in measurement[edit]
Main article: Accuracy and precision
Traditionally, in various technical fields, "accuracy" refers to the
closeness of a given measurement to its true value; "precision" refers
to the stability of that measurement when repeated many times.
Hoping to reflect the way the term "accuracy" is actually used in the
scientific community, there is a more recent standard, ISO 5725,
which keeps the same definition of precision but defines the term
"trueness" as the closeness of a given measurement to its true value
and uses the term "accuracy" as the combination of trueness and
precision. (See the Accuracy and precision article for a fuller
discussion.) In either case, the number of significant figures roughly
corresponds to precision, not to either use of the word accuracy or to
the newer concept of trueness.

In computing