Which of the following numbers has the most significant figures?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
Which of the following numbers has the most significant figures?
0.00789
7890
7.890 x 10^3
0.07890
7.890 x 10^3 has 4 significant figures, while the others have 3, 3, and 4 respectively, but the leading zeros in the first and last options do not count.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: Which of the following numbers has the most significant figures?
Solution: 7.890 x 10^3 has 4 significant figures, while the others have 3, 3, and 4 respectively, but the leading zeros in the first and last options do not count.
Steps: 6
Step 1: Understand what significant figures are. 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 part.
Step 2: Look at each number given in the question. Identify the digits in each number and count the significant figures.
Step 3: For the number 7.890 x 10^3, count the digits: 7, 8, 9, and 0. This gives us 4 significant figures.
Step 4: For the other numbers, count their significant figures as well. If a number has leading zeros (zeros before the first non-zero digit), do not count those.
Step 5: Compare the counts of significant figures from all the numbers. Identify which number has the highest count.
Step 6: Conclude which number has the most significant figures based on your counts.
