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PHY 231
Your 'question form' report has been received. Scroll down through the document to see any comments I might have inserted, and my final comment at the end.
** Question Form_labelMessages **
Significant Figures
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Early this week in class we discuss several problems where we disregarded the decimal places because of inaccuracy of a measuring device. When doing the triangle lab I was wondering what to do when calculating a side. Because all the measurement have inaccuracy, I had to assume the two longest where the most accurate. When I then would calculate the final side I would end up with a long decimal. The conflict is whether or not I treat the decimal as accurate or disregard them.
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I understand the reasoning for not calculating decimals when the precision of a measuring device is low. I don't understand when I should treat a imprecise measurement as precise.
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If I disregard decimals because of inaccuracies in measurement; at what point do I remove them? Before, after, or during calculation?
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It's OK to keep the insignificant figures throughout the calculation, but don't report them in your final result.
During the calculation you do in fact want to keep one additional figure beyond those that are in fact signifcant.
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