John measures the dimensions of a roomto be 16.6ft times 15.23 ft. How many significant digits should he use when calculating the area of the room?
To determine the number of significant digits in the calculated area of the room, we need to consider the least number of significant digits in the given measurements.
In this case, the length of the room measures 16.6 ft, which has three significant digits, and the width measures 15.23 ft, which also has four significant digits.
Since the number of significant digits is governed by the least precise measurement, we should use three significant digits in our calculation.
Hence, John should use three significant digits when calculating the area of the room.