significant figures

In our discussions yesterday, one of the things that cropped up was that we need to revise the material covered before the summer holidays.  I thought I would make a start on this by looking at significant figures.  

You might have heard me referring to “calculator vomit” in class.  This is an expression I use whenever people simply write down the answer provided by their calculator, without thinking about whether or not the number of decimal places reported is appropriate.  In Physics, we can avoid “calculator vomit” by using significant figures.  I’ve provided some links below to direct you to sites that explain what significant figures are and how to use them. 

http://www.ausetute.com.au/sigfig.html

http://www.chem.sc.edu/faculty/morgan/resources/sigfigs/index.html

http://www.staff.vu.edu.au/mcaonline/units/numbers/numsig.html

http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~mb55/msc/maths/sigfig.htm

 

If you’ve read through some of those pages and feel that you are ready for a test, you can try your luck at

http://lectureonline.cl.msu.edu/~mmp/applist/sigfig/sig.htm

Note: these links might also be useful for AH pupils analysing their investigation data.