and have the same number of significant figures.
2007-01-21 16:05:13 · 9 answers · asked by Heavy Metal 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Yes to the 1st and No to the 2nd. The two quantities are numerically equal, but their implied uncertainties are quite different. The 1st has a +/- 1 m uncertainty, while the 2nd has a +/1 0.01 uncertainty.
2007-01-21 16:08:47 · answer #1 · answered by arbiter007 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The two values are mathematically equivalent. But the significant figues are very different.
The last digit is always assumed to be estimated. So in 25.00 the last zero is not nearly as accurate as the preceding three. Anyway, 25 meters implies that the 5 was estimated. So when comparing the two figures, 25.00 is much more accurate that 25. (an example of this would be measuring with a meter stick that gave centimeters compared to using a stick you knew was 1 meter long but had no digits on it).
2007-01-22 00:23:12 · answer #2 · answered by Jonathan M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Both representations give an absolute value of 25 but they give different degrees of accuracy.
The first term, 25 meters only has 2 significant figures while the second term, 25.00 meters has 4 significant figures and has a higher level of precision.
For example,
The 25 meters, could actually have been in a range from a low of 24.5 meters to a high of 25.4 meters. An error range of 0.9.
However, the 25.00 meters could only be in the range of 24.995 to 25.004 which has higher precision. An error range of 0.009.
2007-01-22 00:38:03 · answer #3 · answered by ideaquest 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
not exactly the same... it sounds weird at first sight, however 25.00 is more precise than 25, and because of that, they're not exactly the same number... 25.00 has 4 significant figures, whereas 25 has only two... the number of 0's after the dot makes the significant figures grow up... on the other hand, the number of 0's before the dot makes no difference in terms of significant figures...
2007-01-22 00:33:23 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Exactly the same value, but with different numbers of significant figures.
25 has only two significant figures; 25.00 has four. Recall that trailing zeroes to the right of the decimal point are significant.
2007-01-22 00:08:36 · answer #5 · answered by Scarlet Manuka 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ummm, yes. 50 = 50.00 100=100.00 1000=1000.00
2007-01-22 00:09:00 · answer #6 · answered by alcontch 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no
25.00 is more percise than 25
2007-01-22 00:09:08 · answer #7 · answered by Erik N 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes, and no. yes, they indicate the same length, but the .00 says that the value is accurate and can be confidently found between 24.99 and 25.01
2007-01-22 00:10:41 · answer #8 · answered by mornington observer 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no
2007-01-22 00:12:23 · answer #9 · answered by crackleboy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋