CHE 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Reproducibility, Significant Figures, Leading Zero

• School: University at Buffalo
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CHE 100
• Professor: Clarke Priscilla

Document Summary

Exact numbers = numbers identified with no uncertainty. Inexact numbers = numbers that are measured and are limited by the instrument being used. Uncertainty lies with the last digit of the measured number. Accuracy = how close a measurement is to its true value. Precision = when multiple measurements are made and then compared to each other. If measurements are close to each other, they are precise. Significant figures = all digits that were measured including the uncertain one. Leading zeroes = any zeroes before non-zero digit. Zeroes at the end of a number are significant if there is a decimal at the end of the number. Ex) 423,000 has 3 significant figures, and 423,000. has 6 significant figures. The product / quotient has the same number of significant figures as the number with the fewest significant figures in the equation.