Creating a Significant Figures Question in the quiz tool

The Significant Figures question type is most applicable to science and math related courses. This question type is similar to Arithmetic questions type, but allows users to enter their answers in scientific notation format. The questions are then graded based on what users entered as their significant digits.

Example  A user might submit an answer of 1.9 x 10⁴. In this example, “1.9” are the significant digits.

1. Assign a Points value and a Difficulty level.
2. Enter your Question Text in the text box. To refer to variables, type the variable surrounded with curly braces, e.g., “Answer the following: {x} × {y} = ”
3. In the Variables section, define all of the variables you used in the Question Text.
4. 1. Type the name of your variable (for example, x) in the Name column.
   2. Type the minimum value for the variable in the Min column.
   3. Type the maximum value for the variable in the Max column.
   4. Select the applicable number of decimal places for the variable in the Decimal Places drop-down list.
   5. In the Step field, type the increment that the system should use when choosing random numbers from the range you specified in the Min and Max fields.

5. Example  If you create variable X with Min=100, Max=200 and Step=5, the system sets values for X that are increments of 5 over 100 (105, 110, 115, etc., up to 200).

   Note  The Min, Max, and Step values must all be entered in scientific notation. Enter the significant digits in the first text field, and the exponent in the second text field that is to the upper-right of “x10”.

4. Type the formula you use to calculate the correct answer in the Formula text field Refer to step 5 in the Arithmetic question instructions for a list of supported functions.
5. Click Test to ensure that your formula has been entered properly. The system provides a test case of the equation in a new page.
6. Choose the number of significant figures that the system should accept in answers from the Significant Figures drop-down list (this is the number of digits that are accepted in the non-exponent field). Choose a percentage value from the Default drop-down list if you want to assign only a certain portion of marks for this question for entering the correct significant digits.

   Example  You might choose to assign 70% of the points for this question for getting the significant figures correct, and 30% for getting the unit correct.

7. Select either Units or Percent beside Tolerance, and type the applicable value in the corresponding text field. For example, a tolerance of 3% would allow answers to be off by 3%, or a tolerance of 1.2 x 102 units would allow answers to be off by that much.
8. If your question uses a certain kind of unit (for example, MPH, mm, etc.), type the unit in the Units text field
9. 1. Check Case Sensitive if the unit is case sensitive.
   2. If you want to assign points for using the correct unit in the answer, choose a percentage value from the Worth drop-down list.

Example  If 30% is chosen in the Worth drop-down list, a user would receive 30% of the points for the question for using the correct unit, and the remaining 70% would be earned by answering with the correct significant figures.

See also

• Common features among all question types