3.3.4. Significant digits

The reported number of significant digits in a results gives an impression of the reliability of the result.

The result 5,245 suggests a high reproducibility of the result. The result 5 on the contrary seems less reproducible because it has a rounding error of 10%.

Report as many significant digits during a test that the rounding is smaller than the error in the test.

If a test has a variation coefficient of 10% the result becomes 5.5, these are two significant digits (digits).

If the results is an intermediate result then it is preferable not to round off or to use two digits more than needed.