What’s on the Significant Figures poster
A 5-row table: Number · Sig figs · Why.
The counting rules.
- 25.00 — 4 — Trailing zeros after a decimal count
- 0.00250 — 3 — Leading zeros do not count
- 1200 — Ambiguous — Use 1.20 × 10³ to be clear
- 100.0 — 4 — Decimal point makes them count
- 0.050 — 2 — Leading zeros never count
Multiplication and division: match the fewest significant figures. Addition and subtraction: match the fewest decimal places.
Questions about the Significant Figures poster
- What’s on the Significant Figures (Calculations) poster?
- A 5-row table: Number · Sig figs · Why. The counting rules. 25.00 — 4 — Trailing zeros after a decimal count; 0.00250 — 3 — Leading zeros do not count; 1200 — Ambiguous — Use 1.20 × 10³ to be clear; 100.0 — 4 — Decimal point makes them count; 0.050 — 2 — Leading zeros never count. Multiplication and division: match the fewest significant figures. Addition and subtraction: match the fewest decimal places.
- Who is the Significant Figures (Calculations) poster for?
- Significant Figures (Calculations) belongs to the Chemistry section rather than to a school year, because physical science is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning calculations can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Significant Figures (Calculations) poster?
- Match the least precise measurement. Round only at the very end. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Significant Figures (Calculations) belongs on the wall where that physical science work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Significant Figures (Calculations)?
- Atom Economy, Formula Summary and Concentration sit alongside Significant Figures (Calculations) in the Chemistry section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Atom EconomyFormula SummaryConcentration
- Is the Significant Figures (Calculations) poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Significant Figures (Calculations) downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Chemistry section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Significant Figures (Calculations) poster print at?
- Significant Figures (Calculations) is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Significant Figures (Calculations) loses nothing.Printing guide
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