Hi,

The only addition i can add to that is when we have an external indication, like:
"Here is the result to three significant figures: 1.2"
There the trailing zero is not shown.

 

That would be poor form, since showing only two significant figures would cause a reader to assume that was the true precision. You would not risk implying a trailing zero, no matter what the text says.

I'm in the camp that the placement of the decimal is irrelevant except when there are trailing zeros. In that case it's better to use scientific notation to be clear.

And using constants at high precision is fine so long as the calculated results reflect the proper precision. The precision of pi is not in doubt.

 

That would be poor form, since showing only two significant figures would cause a reader to assume that was the true precision. You would not risk implying a trailing zero, no matter what the text says.

I'm in the camp that the placement of the decimal is irrelevant except when there are trailing zeros. In that case it's better to use scientific notation to be clear.

And using constants at high precision is fine so long as the calculated results reflect the proper precision. The precision of pi is not in doubt.

Hi,

Things change a little when we go to print out tables of computed data. We often like to keep columns lined up but still want to show the right precision without having one trailing zero in one single line sticking out like a sore thumb.