I have this subraction problem: 47.375 - 47.260= 0.115
Since the answer came out to be less then the amount of sig figs I am supposed to round to, do I still have to round the answer or do I leave it as it is.
Thank You!!!
I think you statement about the number of s.f. "you are supposed to round to" is not correct. Here is why.
In subtraction (and in addition), s.f. are done this way.
You are allowed as many places to the right of the decimal point in the answer as the least number of places in any of the values being added or subtracted. So you have three places to the right of the decimal in 47.375 and three places in 47.260 so you are allowed 3 places in the answer. You leave the number of 0.115 as is.
Another example:
1.001 + 1.0 = 2.001 but you are allowed only to the tenth place (one place to the right of the decimal) so the answer is 2.0
Thank you, I understand now.
To determine how many significant figures to round your answer to, you need to refer to the original numbers being subtracted.
In this case, 47.375 has five significant figures (47,375), while 47.260 has five significant figures as well (47,260).
When subtracting these two numbers, you should align the decimal points and subtract digit by digit. The result, 0.115, also has three significant figures (115).
Since both original numbers have five significant figures, it is appropriate to round your answer to the same number of significant figures. Therefore, the answer should be rounded to three decimal places, giving you 0.115.