Originally Posted by ColinsMum
Originally Posted by puffin
It is a little thing but according to ds7's teacher 4500g converts to 4.500kg. It is not inaccurate just incorrect and it makes me think she just taught them to move the decimal place rather than say there are 4.5 1000's in 4500.
I'm just a 'umble maths prof, but that doesn't look incorrect to me, even if it is an opportunity to talk about precision and how to guess it when it isn't stated...

Depends on whether that is a VALUE, or a MEASUREMENT.

Since there are units attached, it is clearly the latter, and therefore significant figures should not be ignored. This kind of thing really comes back to bite kids in college science coursework. They simply cannot wrap their heads around significant zeros when they've had it drilled into them that nothing is ever just a placeholder. {sigh}


This is why scientific notation rocks, by the way. whistle



Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.