Question

You are driving a car in London and see that it says that you are going 50.45 km/hr (kilometers per hour). Using the correct amount of significant figures, how fast are you going in feet per minute (ft/min)? (Show work)

A) 166 ft/min
B) 166.4 ft/min
C) 166.40 ft/min
D) 166.400 ft/min

Answer 1

None of the provided options (A, B, C, D) exactly match the correct conversion of 50.45 km/h to feet per minute with the correct number of significant figures, which should be 2759 ft/min, with three significant figures.

Step-by-step explanation:

First, we need to convert the speed from kilometers per hour to feet per minute. We know that 1 kilometer is equal to 3281 feet. Also, there are 60 minutes in an hour. Therefore:

• Convert kilometers to feet: 50.45 km × 3281 ft/km = 165547.45 ft
• Convert hours to minutes: 165547.45 ft/hr ÷ 60 min/hr = 2759.12417 ft/min

Now, to apply significant figures, we observe that 50.45 km/hr has four significant figures, but since our initial speed reading could have been rounded, we should match the answer to three significant figures. Therefore, the correct conversion taking significant figures into account is 2759 ft/min.

There is no option that exactly matches this answer, but Option B is the closest. However, Option B has four significant figures instead of three, so while it is the closest numerically, it does not strictly adhere to the rules of significant figures based on the information given.