Sig Fig Practice

All five counting rules (nonzero digits, sandwiched zeros, leading zeros, trailing zeros with and without decimal points, scientific notation), plus rounding to n sig figs, the addition rule (fewest decimal places), the multiplication rule (fewest sig figs), and exact numbers.

Two traps dominate: 5,300 vs 5,300. (trailing zeros without vs with a decimal point — 2 vs 4 sig figs), and mixing up the operation rules (addition rounds by decimal places, multiplication by sig figs). The set includes both traps twice in different guises.

Three: the leading zeros are placeholders, and the digits 3, 4, and the trailing 0 (which is after the decimal point, so it counts) are significant. This single example exercises three of the five rules at once, which is why it's a classic exam item.

Addition rounds to the fewest decimal places (one, from 1.7), not the fewest sig figs. The raw sum 14.22 becomes 14.2. Rounding it to 14 — two sig figs, matching 1.7 — applies the multiplication rule to an addition problem, the single most common operation-rule error.

The 18 problems cover every rule pattern that appears on standard chemistry and physics assessments. For calculation-heavy homework, pair it with our significant figures calculator, which rounds any expression and shows which input limited the result.