[Phys-L] Re: infinite sig. figs.

[Ludwik Kowalski <kowalskil@MAIL.MONTCLAIR.EDU>]

A Geiger counter showed 144 counts in a single measurement lasting one
minute. On that basis I am reporting that the true local background is
144, plus or minus 12, per minute. Should I round this to 100 in order
to obey a silly rule that somebody established? I do not think so. The
144 is the best possible estimate and I would report it as such.

Ludwik Kowalski
Let the perfect not be the enemy of the good.

On Sep 22, 2005, at 9:36 AM, Dwight K. Souder wrote:

> Greetings everyone.  I hope the beginning of the school year is off to
> a
> good start for everyone.
>
> I have a question that one of my students asked me and I was unsure of
> the
> answer.  So, I figured I'd come to the experts.
>
> We were covering significant figures, their rules, and determining how
> many
> sig. figs. there are when adding/subtracting and multiply/divide them.
>  One
> of the rules I stated about sig.figs. was if something was counted,
> then it
> has an infinite number of sig.figs.  The example I gave was, if you
> count 12
> people, there are not 2 sig. figs., but it is an infinite number of
> sig.
> figs. (12.0000...).  The reason was that you cannot have a fraction of
> a
> person...you either have a person or you do not, there are no
> in-betweens.
>
> It's been a few days, but I believe the question asked was, if you
> counted
> 12.5 oranges, is it still an infinite number of sig. figs. or are
> there 3
> sig. figs.?
>
> If you need more clarification, please let me know.  Any help would be
> appreciated.
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