The result of a measurement should be
consistent with the measuring instrument used. If the instrument only
measures up to hundredths and due to intermediate calculations we have
a result which goes to thousandths, we have to round
this up to hundredths, increasing them or leaving the
number of hundredths that we started with.
To understand how to round, you must already understand the degree of
precision in the result of a measurement. You should also remember
that:
- The number of significant figures in the
result is determined by the degree of precision.
- The least significant figure of the result
is of the decimal order determined by the significant figure of the
degree of precision.
Example: 34.123 ± 0.001. The significant figure of the degree of
precision corresponds to the thousandths and the least significant
figure of the result (the 3) is in the order of the thousandths.
The following table presents a
series of examples with incorrect rounded expression and their
corresponding correct expression.
