Question

lets break this down for a moment. the main idea here is to find out what digits in a number are significant or not. remember, all nonzero digits (1, 2, 3, etc.) are always significant. finding out what is not significant is really about determining if the zeros in a value are significant or not. the leading zeros in 0.00832407 are not significant because they come before the first nonzero figure. a term like 1300, however, has two significant digits: 1 and 3. the zeros are trailing zeros to the right of where a decimal point should be placed. now you give it a try. how many significant figures are in the following terms? 0.0058 500 500.0 89.305 0.08050

Explanation:

Step1: Analyze 0.0058

Leading zeros are not significant. Non - zero digits 5 and 8 are significant. So there are 2 significant figures.

Step2: Analyze 500

Trailing zeros without a decimal point may or may not be significant. Assuming no additional context, we consider only non - zero digits significant. So there is 1 significant figure.

Step3: Analyze 500.0

Trailing zeros after a decimal point are significant. So 5, 0, 0, 0 are all significant, giving 4 significant figures.

Step4: Analyze 89.305

All digits are significant (non - zero digits and zeros between non - zero digits). So there are 5 significant figures.

Step5: Analyze 0.08050

Leading zeros are not significant. Non - zero digits 8, 5 and the trailing zero after 5 are significant. So there are 4 significant figures.

Answer:

0.0058: 2
500: 1
500.0: 4
89.305: 5
0.08050: 4