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In Google Sheets, users have the ability to round numbers to a specific number of significant figures. This feature allows for more precise and concise data presentation. To utilize this feature, users can simply select the desired cell or range of cells, click on the “Format” menu, and choose the “Number” option. From there, they can select the number of significant figures they want to round to. This allows for accurate and consistent data representation in Google Sheets.
Round to Significant Figures in Google Sheets
Often you may want to round a value to a certain number of significant figures in Google Sheets.
You can use the following formula to do so:
=ROUND(value,figures-(1+INT(LOG10(ABS(value)))))
where value is the value that you want to round and figures is the number of significant figures to round to.
Here’s what the formula does in a nutshell:
1.ABS converts the value to a positive value.
2. LOG10 finds the exponent of the value.
3. INT removes the decimal from the value.
4. ROUND then finds the number of significant figures to round to.
The following example shows how to use this formula in practice.
Example: Rounding to Significant Figures in Google Sheets
The following screenshot shows how to round the value 934745 to 1 significant figure:
We can see that the value 934745 gets rounded to 900000:
Note that we can round to however many significant figures we’d like:
A Simple Explanation of Significant Figures
For a wonderful introduction to significant figures, check out the video below from Kahn Academy: