significant digits: Meaning and Definition of

signif'icant dig'its

Pronunciation: [key]
— Math. Math.
  1. all the nonzero digits of a number and the zeros that are included between them or that are final zeros and signify accuracy:Also called The significant digits of 0.01230 are 1, 2, 3, and the final 0, which signifies accuracy to five places.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.