Significant Digit facts
While investigating facts about Significant Digits and Significant Digits Calculator, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Levi's doesn't know the significance of most of their historical trademarks, including their three-digit model numbers (e.g. 501) or the arc design stitched on their back pockets. This is because all of their records were lost with their headquarters in the 1906 San Francisco fire.
how significant digits work?
The advertising practice of using “odd prices” (e.g., $1.99 or £2.98) is known as "charm pricing" which causes consumers to perceive such prices as being significantly lower than they are, causing them to round to the next lowest monetary unit. Approximately 60% of prices end in the digit 9.
What significant digits do?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what are significant digits in math. Here are 7 of the best facts about Significant Digits Rules and Significant Digits Definition I managed to collect.
what significant digits?
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In the UK, the number 1 is actually legally defined as 0.500 to 1.499 due to a court case involving ConvaTec and Smith & Nephew in which significant digits of measurements of silver concentration were disputed in a patent case.
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Benford's Law explains how many naturally occurring collections of numbers will have a better than 50% chance of the leading significant digit being just 1, 2 or 3, and a 30% chance of it being 1. Population figures, physical constants and the logarithmic scale bar tend to obey this law.
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The "Left-digit Anchoring Effect" suggests that people perceive the difference between $1.99 and $3.00 to be closer to $2.01 than to $1.01 because their judgments are anchored on the left-most digit. Consumers ignore the least significant digits rather than do the proper rounding.
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About Benford's law: statistically the number 1 is the most significant digit in a number in 30% of random numbers— with each higher number appearing less and less frequently (9 is only the significant digit 5% of the time)
Significant Digit data charts
For your convenience take a look at Significant Digit figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.
