Reference library20 entries

Category: Tools & code

Guides and reference for implementing precision and rounding rules in software, spreadsheets, calculators, and markup languages.

Oct 2026

Excel

How to Make Excel Respect Sig Fig Rules: A Custom Rounding Formula

Excel lacks a native significant-figures function. Use a custom ROUND formula with LOG10, ABS, and INT to round to any number of significant figures…

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Oct 2026

MATLAB

How to Round to Significant Figures in MATLAB: Precision Control for Engineers

MATLAB has no single sig-fig rounding function, but you can combine round, floor, log10, and sprintf/fprintf to control significant digits accurately.

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Oct 2026

MATLAB

Significant Figures in MATLAB: Rounding, Display, and Precision Control

A comprehensive guide to managing numerical precision in MATLAB, distinguishing between internal double-precision storage and formatted output for significant figures.

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Oct 2026

Excel

How to Round to Significant Figures in Excel and Google Sheets

Learn the authoritative methods for implementing significant figure rounding in spreadsheet software using mathematical formulas and precision standards.

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Oct 2026

Python

Sig Figs in Python: round(), format(), and Decimal — Which One Follows ASTM E29?

Python's round() and format() use half-even ties, matching ASTM E29 for exact ties, but binary floats can break decimal rounding. Decimal.quantize() is the reliable…

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Oct 2026

Python

How to Round to Significant Figures in Python Using the decimal Module

Use Decimal.quantize with an exponent derived from the adjusted exponent to round to n significant figures, choosing ROUND_HALF_EVEN for standards-aligned ties.

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Oct 2026

LaTeX siunitx

How to Round to Significant Figures in LaTeX siunitx: A Precision Reference

A comprehensive reference for rounding to significant figures with LaTeX siunitx, including syntax, standards, worked examples, counter-examples, and common pitfalls.

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Oct 2026

Excel

Scientific Notation in Excel: A Precision Guide for Formatting and Sig Figs

A comprehensive guide on managing scientific notation in Excel while maintaining rigorous significant figure standards and avoiding common floating-point errors.

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Oct 2026

JavaScript floating-point

Rounding in JavaScript: Math.round() Half-Up Behavior and Banker’s Rounding

JavaScript's Math.round() rounds ties toward +∞, not away from zero, so Math.round(-2.5) is -2. Banker's rounding (half-to-even) requires a custom function or decimal library.

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Oct 2026

SQL and databases

Significant Figures in SQL and Databases: Storing and Querying Numeric Precision

Databases store numeric types and scale, not significant figures. This reference explains how to model measurement precision in SQL and round only when reporting.

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