Tag Archives: significant digits

Linearly Related Units and Significant Digits

Last week, I made the claim that the significant digits of a measurement are not dependent on the units that you use to measure.  Today, I want to look at this from the point of view of units that are linearly related to each other, and I’m going to start with even more specificity and look only at units that are multiplicatively related (for example, this class excludes Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion) using the rules of significant digits. Continue reading Linearly Related Units and Significant Digits

Are Significant Digits Unit Dependent?

A while back, I had a discussion with our development team about significant figures.  Specifically, the discussion centered around where they were going to go to lunch and when they were going to leave.  Someone piped in with, “Right here, right now,” while another countered, “I wonder how many significant digits you should take for that to actually be true…”  The first dev then stated, “First, you would need some units,” at which point I jumped into the conversation claiming, “Actually, I’m not sure that you do.  Whether you are using AU or attometers, the number of significant digits should be the same.” Continue reading Are Significant Digits Unit Dependent?