Calculate the area, with the appropriate number of significant figures, of a rectangular room that is 17.10 m wide by 13.0 m long.
17.10*13.0=222.3 m^2
is this right?
Since 13.0 only has 3 sd's, I expect you need to round your answer to 3 sd's as well.
Yes, your calculation is correct. To find the area of a rectangular room, you multiply the length (13.0 m) by the width (17.10 m).
However, when it comes to significant figures, you need to consider the precision of the measurements provided. The rule for significant figures states that in multiplication and division, the result should have the same number of significant figures as the measurement with the fewest significant figures.
In this case, the width measurement (17.10 m) has four significant figures, while the length measurement (13.0 m) has three significant figures. Therefore, the final result should have three significant figures.
The correct answer, considering significant figures, would be:
17.10 m * 13.0 m = 222 m²
So, the area of the rectangular room with the appropriate number of significant figures is 222 m².