A scale is made up of a series of graduations. Usually, some of the graduations are labelled at regular intervals, with smaller, unlabelled graduations between them. The increment between the graduations will dictate how many significant digits should be recorded from the scale. Any data recorded from a scale should include all of the certain digits and one digit that is estimated by the person reading the scale.
To read the scale, you must first determine the scale increment. The scale increment is the quantity between any two adjacent graduations. To find the scale increment, subtract the values of any two adjacent labeled graduations and divide by the number of intervals between them.
