DEV Community

Discussion on: Daily Challenge #163 - Significant Figures

Collapse
 
schwepmo profile image
schwepmo

I just checked on Wikipedia and it is right the way that it is stated in the task. This is because if you add zeros after the decimal point, you imply that your number was "measured" with a higher precision.

Example: a normal ruler vs. a precision measuring devices

If you use the normal ruler you can only be certain your measured distance is 1.5cm

With a precision ruler you can be certain, that your measured distance is something like 1.500cm

Collapse
 
savagepixie profile image
SavagePixie

Oh, so it's a measurement thing.

Interestingly enough, technically, according to Wikipedia we have no way of knowing whether any zero to the right of the last non-zero digit is significant or not, regardless of the presence of decimals. So the exercise is still not quite right.

Thread Thread
 
schwepmo profile image
schwepmo

I feel like the exercise is fine. It defines a definite rule for deciding on which trailing zeros are significant and which aren't.