Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Cf. Giambattista/Richardson/Richardson, Physics, 1/e, Chapter 1.4
Inflacija, by Goranka MaticAs posted on boingboing.net
May 4, 2006
Students were asked the following clicker question (Classroom Performance System, einstruction.com) near the beginning of their learning cycle:
[0.3 points.] Consider an old Yugoslavian billion dinara banknote.
Enter the number of significant figures: _____.
When a number is written in non-scientific notation with empty zeros, the number of significant figures is ambiguous. The rule of thumb here is to follow the "min 2" rule, where this would be expressed in scientific notation as 1.0 x 10^9 dinara. However, assuming that dinara can be exchanged into 100 cents (the practicalities of inflation notwithstanding), then currency would be significant to the hundredths decimal place, so this would be 1.00000000000 x 10^9 dinara.
The point is that there are different rules in science and in finance, so unless it is clear that money is being discussed, the "min 2" rule will apply to ambiguous zeros.
Correct answer: 2, or 12.
Student responses
Sections 0906, 0907
"1" : 3 students
"2" : 23 students
"10": 1 student
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