Question

Scientists often use significant byScientists often use significant digits when they are concluding a experiments especially when taking measurements explain why significant digits will be important to scientist as they are using measurements for experiments

Answer 1

Significant digits are important in scientific measurements because they indicate the precision of a tool and the certainty of the measurement. The last digit of a measurement is estimated, representing the first uncertain figure. Significant digits also guide the reporting of results in calculations to reflect the precision of the input measurements.

Step-by-step explanation:

Scientists often use significant digits when they are concluding experiments, especially when taking measurements. These significant figures represent the precision of a measuring tool and the level of certainty in the recorded measurements. For example, when using a standard ruler to measure the length of a stick, one might measure it to be 36.7 cm. Since the ruler cannot measure to the hundredth of a centimeter (0.01 cm), the value cannot be reported as 36.71 cm. The last digit (7 in this case) is the first uncertain figure, as the length of the stick might be slightly more or less than what is indicated by the ruler.

In computations such as addition and subtraction, the result should only contain as many decimal places as the least certain number used in the calculation. This ensures that reported results do not imply a greater level of precision than the measurements allow.