How many significant figures are in each number? d. 1.563300×10¹¹ m

Key Concepts

Significant Figures

Significant figures are the digits in a number that contribute to its precision. This includes all non-zero digits, any zeros between significant digits, and trailing zeros in the decimal portion. Understanding significant figures is crucial for accurately reporting measurements and calculations in scientific contexts.

Scientific Notation

Scientific notation is a way of expressing numbers that are too large or too small to be conveniently written in decimal form. It is represented as a product of a number between 1 and 10 and a power of ten. In the context of significant figures, the digits in the coefficient of the scientific notation are counted to determine the total number of significant figures.

Rules for Counting Significant Figures

There are specific rules for counting significant figures in a number. For example, all non-zero digits are significant, leading zeros are not, and trailing zeros in a decimal number are significant. When a number is expressed in scientific notation, only the digits in the coefficient are considered significant, which simplifies the process of determining the total count.