Hey all,

I have a formatting problem that I don’t believe that I can use formatting 
for.

The requirement is that the displayed number (in a report) can have no more 
than 2 significant figures displayed.

Non-zero digits are always significant. Thus, 22 has two significant digits, 
and 22.3 has three significant digits.
With zeroes, the situation is more complicated:Zeroes placed before other 
digits are not significant; 0.046 has two significant digits.
Zeroes placed between other digits are always significant; 4009 kg has four 
significant digits.
Zeroes placed after other digits but behind a decimal point are significant; 
7.90 has three significant digits.
Zeroes at the end of a number are significant only if they are behind a 
decimal point as in (c). Otherwise, it is impossible to tell if they are 
significant. For example, in the number 8200, it is not clear if the zeroes 
are significant or not. The number of significant digits in 8200 is at least 
two, but could be three or four. To avoid uncertainty, use scientific 
notation to place significant zeroes behind a decimal point:
8.200 ´ 103 has four significant digits
8.20 ´ 103 has three significant digits
8.2 ´ 103 has two significant digits

So I believe that the best thing for me to do is to use scientific notation.

The column definition I have been using in the report is a Double. I cannot 
change the type but I know that this is a display issue.

However, my attempts to “force” scientific notation have not worked.

Any advice appreciated.

Jan

Reply via email to