![]() | This page in a nutshell: Do not use too many significant digits: the later digits often don't convey information. Sources may give too many significant digits, or give the appropriate context to justify giving more precision. |
Within technical topics, the amount of digits in a number give a rough indication of precision. If I say I'm 1.7 m tall, I'm giving less information and precision than if I say I'm 1.68 m tall. But when I say I'm 1.68375867843 m, you know something fishy is going on.
Often, sources used for Wikipedia give many significant digits, and it's inappropriate to simply copy those numbers to Wikipedia for two reasons
Simple arithmetic can lead to errors in significant digits too
![]() | This page in a nutshell: Do not use too many significant digits: the later digits often don't convey information. Sources may give too many significant digits, or give the appropriate context to justify giving more precision. |
Within technical topics, the amount of digits in a number give a rough indication of precision. If I say I'm 1.7 m tall, I'm giving less information and precision than if I say I'm 1.68 m tall. But when I say I'm 1.68375867843 m, you know something fishy is going on.
Often, sources used for Wikipedia give many significant digits, and it's inappropriate to simply copy those numbers to Wikipedia for two reasons
Simple arithmetic can lead to errors in significant digits too