Diversity and Polysemy of the Addition and Subtraction Rules of Significant Figures
LIU Qiang-Qiang1, CHEN Bai-Li1, ZHONG Jun-Bo1, HUANG Sheng-Tian1**, MA Lan2
1. School of Chemistry and Environmental,Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Zigong 643000, China; 2. College of Vanadium and Titanium Panzhihua University, Panzhihua 617000, China
Abstract The addition and subtraction rules of significant figures in some textbooks of Analytical Chemistry exhibit a diversity of expressions. By splitting, contrasting, and generalizing the subjects, predicates, and objects of these rules, it identifies two categories of rules with completely different meanings (polysemy), Rule I, which contains “the decimal places in the calculation result”, and Rule Ⅱ, which involves “the significant figures in the calculation result”. Rule Ⅱ is discussed in more detail, revealing that it is inadequately expression, imprecise logic and polysemy. Research into the polysemy issue of Rule Ⅱ indicates the following: Firstly, Neither the decimal places nor the significant figures of the key numbers can determine “the number of significant digits of the operation result”. Secondly, the key numbers can only determine the decimal places in the calculated result. Thirdly, the addition and subtraction results must have a specific “significant number”, but this “significant number” has no direct causal relationship with the key number. Fourth, the fundamental issue with Rule Ⅱ is that it defines the subject as “the number of significant digits in the calculation result”. Finally, it is suggested to revise Rule Ⅱ or adopt Rule I uniformly.
LIU Qiang-Qiang, CHEN Bai-Li, ZHONG Jun-Bo, HUANG Sheng-Tian, MA Lan. Diversity and Polysemy of the Addition and Subtraction Rules of Significant Figures[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Education, 2024, 45(8): 31-35.
