Question

what is the correct significant figures of 15.17/0.085 ?

Answer 1

Given a Division of numbers to find significant figures.

Based on the Significant figure rules for multiplication and division, round to the number that has the least number of significant digits after applying mathematical operation (In our case it is Division).

Actual calculation:

=15.17/0.085

=178.470588235294

Rounding rules:

1. If the number ends with greater than 5, then round up. For Example 15.58, the End number is 8>5, so applying round-up of 15.58 gives 15.6. as an answer.

2. If the number ends with greater than 5, then round up. For Example 15.53, the End number is 3<5, so applying a round down of 15.53 gives 15.5. as an answer.

3. If the number ends with exact 5, then round to nearest even number. For Example 15.5, the End number is 5=5, so applying a round of 15.5 gives 16.0 as an answer.

Let us apply rounding rules for both numbers and apply the mathematical operation.

For number 15.17, applying rounding rules Answer is 15.2, The Number of significant figures are 3.

For number 0.085, applying rounding rules Answer is 0.08. The number of significant figures are 1.

Apply the mathematical operation between rounded values:

=15.2/0.08

=190.

Result:

The number of significant numbers in the answer 190 is 2.