significant figure
noun1
Mathematics, Sciences A digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement; that is, excluding any leading zeroes, trailing rounding or placeholder zeroes, and non-zero digits not warranted by the accuracy of a derivation or measurement.
- The speed was calculated by dividing 2314 metres by 71 seconds and reported as 32.5915 m/s, but since both the distance and time were measured only to the nearest whole number, there were actually only two significant figures in this result, i.e. 32.
2
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see significant, figure.
- Related terms
- round number