Editing Significant figures (section)

== In computing ==
{{Main|Floating-point arithmetic}}
Computer representations of floating-point numbers use a form of rounding to significant figures (while usually not keeping track of how many), in general with [[binary number]]s. The number of correct significant figures is closely related to the notion of [[approximation error|relative error]] (which has the advantage of being a more accurate measure of precision, and is independent of the [[radix]], also known as the base, of the number system used).

{{anchor|Sig-fig calculator}}[[Electronic calculator]]s supporting a dedicated significant figures display mode are relatively rare.

Among the calculators to support related features are the [[Commodore Business Machines|Commodore]] [[Commodore M55<!-- also called Commodore M-55 -->|M55 Mathematician]] (1976)<ref name="Commodore_M55"/> and the [[Commodore S61<!-- also called Commodore S-61 -->|S61 Statistician]] (1976),<ref name="Commodore_S61"/> which support two display modes, where {{key|DISP|''n''}} will give ''n'' significant digits in total, while {{key|DISP|.|''n''}} will give ''n'' decimal places.

The [[Texas Instruments]] [[TI-83 Plus]] (1999) and [[TI-84 Plus]] (2004) families of [[graphical calculator]]s support a ''Sig-Fig Calculator'' mode in which the calculator will evaluate the count of significant digits of entered numbers and display it in square brackets behind the corresponding number. The results of calculations will be adjusted to only show the significant digits as well.<ref name="TI_2023"/>

For the [[Hewlett-Packard|HP]] [[HP 20b|20b]]/[[HP 30b|30b]]-based community-developed [[WP&nbsp;34S]] (2011) and [[WP&nbsp;31S]] (2014) calculators significant figures display modes {{key|SIG|''n''}} and {{key|SIG0|''n''}} (with zero padding) are available as a [[compile-time]] option.<ref name="Bit_2014"/><ref name="Bit_2015"/> The [[SwissMicros]] [[SwissMicros DM42|DM42]]-based community-developed calculators [[WP&nbsp;43C]] (2019)<ref name="Mostert_2020"/>&nbsp;/ [[C43 (calculator)|C43]] (2022)&nbsp;/ [[C47 (calculator)|C47]] (2023) support a significant figures display mode as well.