Engneering 2

"How many digits should I keep in my final answer?"  Keep as many digits as possible during the calculations.  At the end, round to 3 digits.  This will always ensure that your rounded answer is within 1% of the exact answer, which is good enough for this class.

"When should I use an Engineering Prefix?"  Everyone has a different preference, but I usually use an Engineering Prefix for numbers greater than 1000 (kilo, mega, giga, etc.) and for numbers less than 0.1 (milli, micro, nano, etc.).  For numbers between 0.1 and 1000, I typically do not use an Engineering Prefix.  

Example:  567 Ohms.  567 is between 0.1 and 1000 so I would keep it as 567 Ohms.

Example:  1023 Volts.  1023 is greater than 1000 so I'd use 1.023 kV (kilo Volts)

Example: 0.056 Amps.  0.056 is less than 0.1 so I'd use 56 mA (milli Amps)