That depends on your goals AND on your measuring capabilities.
It depends upon how you got to the 12, for example: 28.6 - 16.6 = 12.0 Because each of the numbers that was used to get to the 12 had 3 significant figures, you should write the 12 with three significant figures also. However: 29 - 17 = 12 In this case, each of the numbers that was used to get to 12 had only 2 significant figures, so use only 2 significant figures in the 12.
The number given of 11254 has five significant figures
2
5 of them.
Count the significant figures in each number. Calculate the minimum of these numbers. Do the multiplication Round the product to the LEAST number of significant figures, determined above.
4 of them.
4 significant figures.Zeros are significant if they are between two non-zero numbers, or if they are "trailing" zeros in a number with a decimal point.Eg.0.000047 = 2 significant figures4.7000 = 5 significant figures
The number 0.0102030 has 6 significant figures. Each of the non-zero numerals (3 of those), the zeros between the non-zero numbers (2), and the zero on the end of the number if it is right of the decimal (1). The significant figures are in bold:0.0102030
The greater the number of significant figures, the greater the precision. Each significant figure increases the precision by a factor of ten. For example pi = 3.14 is accurate to 3 significant figures, while pi = 3.14159 with 6 significant figures is a more accurate representation.
It depends upon how you got to the 12, for example: 28.6 - 16.6 = 12.0 Because each of the numbers that was used to get to the 12 had 3 significant figures, you should write the 12 with three significant figures also. However: 29 - 17 = 12 In this case, each of the numbers that was used to get to 12 had only 2 significant figures, so use only 2 significant figures in the 12.
The number given of 11254 has five significant figures
3.774 is to 4 significant figures (count them)
2
5 of them.
Count the significant figures in each number. Calculate the minimum of these numbers. Do the multiplication Round the product to the LEAST number of significant figures, determined above.
Two - the trailing zeros are just placeholders.
There are 4 significant figures in 6.741.