COMPUTATION RULES. 



PROPER NUMBER OF PLACES OF SIGNIFICANT FIGURES. 



THK following three pages contain the rules and their underlying 

 principles in a condensed form for ready reference. For readers to 

 whom some of the terms employed are unfamiliar, or who desire 

 fuller proofs and explanations, some additional pa.u r es of Hetinitions 

 and Explanations" have been appended. 



The.M- rules should enable a computer to decide at the out- 

 his work, or at the sucr- <>f it. what number of places of 



significant figures he should retain in order to avoid waste of labor 

 on the one hand or sacrifice of accuracy on the other. They pi 

 :uber of places to assure that i barring ini>- 

 cumulated error arising from the rejection of further places 

 l.e always smaller, iiMially much smaller, than the sui 



ty of the da 1 nit, in computations involving not- 



more than abo ..us. Tin- retention of more pla. 



It adds nothing to the ace the result. 



although : J materially the labor of computing, and the lia- 



:ke. The a LT X rebate value of the time th . 



.^h to any one \vh. 



Ledcomp . maybeap ithatthe 



use of five plac.-s v, : would sutlice. nearly doubles the ', 



..ii of ti: 



the us- : 11 as to the competence 



of the worker in othe: ,113. 



ri 



