During an experiment a rectangular metal plate was measured as follows: • Length = •…
PHYSICS · Multi-part · CBSE · Physics · Units and Measurements · Units and Measurements
Problem
During an experiment a rectangular metal plate was measured as follows:
• Length = 85.275cm
• Width = 2.34cm
(i) Round the length to four significant figures and the width to three significant figures.
(ii) Using the rounded values from part (i), calculate the area of the plate in cm2. Give your answer to the correct number of significant figures.
(iii) Calculate the area again using the original un-rounded measurements and then round the final area to the appropriate number of significant figures.
(iv) Determine the percentage difference between the two areas obtained in parts (ii) and (iii). Comment briefly on whether rounding intermediate values or only the final result gives a more reliable answer.