Chapter SR9, Problem 15P

Solution

To perform the calculation $320÷18$ and write the answer with appropriate number of significant digits.

  $18$

Given:

The expression, $320÷18$ .

Concept Used:

Significant digits

• All nonzero digits are significant.
• All zeros that appear between two nonzero digits are significant.
• For a decimal, all zeros that appear after the last nonzero digit are significant.
• The number of significant digits in the result of basic algebraic operations between two numbers is as many significant digits as the least number of significant digits in any of the numbers involved.

Calculation:

Note that there are 2 significant digits in 320 and 2 significant digits in 18 so the final answer must be rounded to 2 significant digits as shown below

  $\begin{array}{c}320÷18=17.778\\ =18\end{array}$

Thus, the simplified expression with appropriate significant digits is $18$ .