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Topic: Sig figs when displaying uncertainty???  (Read 1728 times)

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Offline ght67

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Sig figs when displaying uncertainty???
« on: August 31, 2013, 05:55:32 PM »
If I know that a balance gives an uncertainty of +- 0.005g, how many significant figures would I need to report on a reading when the counterweights lie exactly on the 8g mark?

Some websites say to have the reading match the uncertainty's decimal places, so it would be 8.000g +- 0.005g. But other websites say to match the uncertainty's number of sig figs, so it would be 8 +- 0.005g. Which should it be?

Offline Archer

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Re: Sig figs when displaying uncertainty???
« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2013, 03:00:58 AM »
8.000g ± 0.005 is the correct way to display uncertainty.

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Offline Vidya

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Re: Sig figs when displaying uncertainty???
« Reply #2 on: September 01, 2013, 10:51:25 AM »
your answer should be reported to three decimal places with ±0.005 (uncertainity)

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