Question

Suppose you multiply a measurement of 4.52 kg by a measurement of 6.0 kg. How many significant figures does the product have?

Answer 1

`2` significant figures

Explanation:

The thing to remember about multiplication and division is that the resulting value cannot have more significant figures than the measurement that has the least number of significant figures.

Simply put, the answer will have as many sig figs as the least number of sig figs present in your measurements.

In your case, you have

`4.52 ->` three sig figs

`6.0color(white)(1) ->` two sig figs

The least number of sig figs available to you is `2`, as given by `6.0`. This means that the answer will have two sig figs.

So, multiply `4.52` by `6.0` to get

`4.52 * 6.0 = 27.12`

This number must be rounded to two sig figs

`27. color(red)(cancel(color(black)(1)))color(red)(cancel(color(black)(2))) implies 27 ->` two sig figs