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How to Round Numbers to Significant Figures

Significant figures or digits of a number are those digits that contribute some degree of precision to the value of a number. Rounding is a technique applied to reduce the number of digits occurring in a number, especially a decimal number that has a large number of relatively insignificant figures with the significant ones. Rounding numbers to significant figures is a simple task.

Instructions

- 1
  Write the number on a piece of paper. Let's assume that we are to round off 1.67859 and 2.06332 to three significant figures.
- 2
  Start counting from the first non-zero digit that occurs to the left of the number. Count to the third digit only as you are to round off numbers to three significant figures. Replace all other digits occurring in the number with zeros.
- 3
  Apply rounding off technique, if required. If the value of the fourth digit from the left is 5 or greater, add to the value occurring in the third digit one unit. If the value of the fourth digit from the left is less than 5, leave the value of the third digit as it is. In the previous example, 1.67859 becomes 1.68 and 2.06332 becomes 2.06.

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K-12 Basics