Clea estimates that a glass contains 250.55 mL of water. The actual amount of water in the glass is 279.48 mL.
To the nearest tenth of a percent, what is the percent error in Clea's estimate?
Difference between Clea estimates and the actual amount:
279.48 - 250.55 = 28.93
percent error = ( 28.93 / 279.48 ) ∙ 100% =
0.10351367 ∙ 100% =
10.351367%
10.4%
Rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent.
most teacher would insist on four significant figures, in accordance with the number 28.93, so my students would not round to three sig digits, and the answer would be 10.35 percent
It was 10.4%. I thank both of you for helping me. I only got 29/30 right on my test.
and I erred, the answer was supposed to be to the nearest tenth of a percent.
"only"?
29/30 = 96.6666... %
That's a really good grade!
To calculate the percent error, we first need to find the absolute difference between Clea's estimate and the actual amount of water, and then divide that difference by the actual amount of water. Finally, we multiply the result by 100 to convert it into a percentage.
The absolute difference between Clea's estimate and the actual amount of water is obtained by subtracting Clea's estimate from the actual amount:
279.48 mL - 250.55 mL = 28.93 mL
Now, we divide this difference by the actual amount of water:
(28.93 mL / 279.48 mL) × 100 = 10.35
Therefore, the percent error in Clea's estimate is approximately 10.4%.