Lia measures a wall of her room to be 3.7 meters by 2.45 meters. How many significant figures are in the measurement of its area?

1 Answer
Shantelle
Dec 23, 2017

There are 2 significant figures in this measurement of its area.

Explanation:

Significant figures are the number of digits that carry meaning in its measurement.

To calculate the number of significant figures in multiplication/division problems (since area is multiplying the length by width), we look at the measurement with the least significant figures.

#3.7# has 2 significant figures.

#2.45# has 3 significant figures.

So our final answer must have 2 significant figures.

First, let's multiply the area out:
#3.7 * 2.45 = 9.065#

Since we can only have 2 sig figs, we round this to the nearest tenth please, and we get #9.1#.

To find out more about significant figures, feel free to watch this video:
https://www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic-home/arith-review-decimals/arithmetic-significant-figures-tutorial/v/significant-figures

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