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Re: Sig Figures



In my opinion significant figures are much more important
while processing experimental data. In problems each of us
is free to choose the level for rounding. I tell students that
about 1% agreement with the textbook answer is OK (to know
that the method chosen is likely to be good). We do not know
how the rounding was done by the author. It is better to have
too many digits (intermediate results) that not enough. In
general the accuracy of a calculation depends on its purpose.

In a problem 0.5 and 0.55 are always different , in a
laboratory report the difference between 0.50 and 0.55
may or may not be significant.
Ludwik Kowalski

"Carr, John" wrote:

When your dealing with angles in problems like vector addition, or
inelastic collision at vector angles, how do you handle angles and
significant figures? The book I use tends to keeps the angle to about 2
decimal places and does not follow significant figures of the data.
What are the guidelines for this?