This is probably my first post in many weeks (probably months)...!!

1


So I have this question:
Q: Evaluate the following, quoting the result to a suitable degree of accuracy
6.08 / 59 + 0.656
A: 0.8
I was wondering why it's 0.8
Here is what I got. 6.08 / 59 is 0.10305, 6.08 is 3 significant figures and 59 is exact. Then 0.103 + 0.656 is 0.759. Both of 0.103 and 0.656 have 3 decimal points so we should use a 3 decimal point answer. Why then is the answer 1 decimal point?

2


11 * 0.18067
The answer says that I need to have 2 significant figures, however isn't 11 an exact number? Therefore shouldnt my answer be 5 sig figs?

Thanks heaps in advance and sorry for the random post.

Thanks for Skyrim

8 years ago

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59 is exact

You don't know that it's an exact number. It might be 59,1 or something like that, rounded to 59. Same with 2.

The lowest amount of significant figures is 2, so that's what the answer should have. No idea why they opted for 1 in the first question.

8 years ago
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Okay that makes sense. Thank you heaps. I looked back and in some of the questions the lecturer specifically said "presume 4 is exact". I assume that when he doesnt mention it, we shouldnt presume anything is exact then! Thanks.

Yeah, I'm totally lost on the first question. No idea why the said that it's 1 decimal place.

8 years ago
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Sometimes you'll know from the context that a number is exact (like for an example if you're using the speed of light, as the meter is defined based on it), but if you don't get such a context, or you're told that a number is exact, you can generally not assume it.

8 years ago
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Makes sense. Thank you heaps

8 years ago
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Maybe try here - cymath.

8 years ago
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