Answer: How to convert only to one significant figure:
Step-by-step explanation:
The method of rounding to a significant figure is often used as it can be applied to any kind of number, regardless of how big or small it is. When a newspaper reports a lottery winner has won £3 million, this has been rounded to one significant figure. It rounds to the most important figure in the number.
To round to a significant figure:
look at the first non-zero digit if rounding to one significant figure
look at the digit after the first non-zero digit if rounding to two significant figures
draw a vertical line after the place value digit that is required
look at the next digit
if it's 5 or more, increase the previous digit by one
if it's 4 or less, keep the previous digit the same
fill any spaces to the right of the line with zeros, stopping at the decimal point if there is one
Examples
Round 53,879 to 1 significant figure, then 2 significant figures.
5|3879 to 1 significant figure is 50,000
53|879 to 2 significant figures is 54,000
Notice that the number of significant figures in the question is the maximum number of non-zero digits in your answer.
Round 0.005089 to 1 significant figure, then 2 significant figures.
0.005|089 to 1 significant figure is 0.005
0.0050|89 to 2 significant figures is 0.0051
Sorry this was long,
But I hope this helped!