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Topic: Significant figure confusion  (Read 2844 times)

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Offline is3zzz

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Significant figure confusion
« on: September 23, 2007, 12:43:45 AM »
How many significant figures will be in the final result of the calcuation below?

(2.389 × 2.54001)/(16.83 - 16.573892)

My answer is 4. But I got it wrong. What is the problem here?
When multiplying the fewest sig figs are kept.
When Subtracting the fewest numbers after the decimal is kept.
When dividing the fewest sig figs are kept.

(4 sig figs) / (4 sig figs) = 4 sig figs , but the answer is wrong?

Offline Sev

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Re: Significant figure confusion
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2007, 01:52:22 AM »
16.83-16.573892 gives 0.26 (only 2 sig. figures)

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