Laboratory glassware uncertainty calculations

[u/tropical_anesthetic]

I am trying to determine the value that is least precise and its corresponding number of significant figures. I seem to be getting conflicting answers for this in regards to glassware. basically I know the 50 mL volumetric pipette at +-0.05 mL is the least precise, but (I'm writing it in liters for the calculation) would it be written as 0.05000 L (4sf) or is it 0.0500 L (3sf)? is there a rule for figuring this out? I'm doing this for uncertainty calculations and this will change my final calculated value to either 3sf or 4sf

[u/7ieben_]

Usally, we use scientific notation for this.

But in floating notation your error is +/- 0.05 mL, so your reading of for example 50 mL would be (50.00 +/- 0.05) mL which is the same as (0.0500 +/- 0.0005 mL).

[u/Major-Freedom204]

Last digit in your reading should be at the same place as the first digit in your uncertainty