Significant Figures - GCSE Psychology Definition

Significant figures are the digits in a number that are important for showing precision. When you measure something in psychology, like reaction time or test scores, significant figures help indicate how accurate your measurements are. They include all non-zero numbers, any zeros between them, and any trailing zeros in a decimal. Using significant figures is important in GCSE Psychology because they show how much you can trust the final answer, based on the precision of the measuring tool or method. For example, if your reaction time is measured as 3.40 seconds, the "3", the "4", and the "0" are all significant figures. This tells you that the measurement is precise to the hundredths of a second.