Millimeters are converted to meters by dividing by 1000, and results are to be rounded to the nearest hundredths place when necessary. Whole number precision must match the least precise measurement when rounding. Uncertainties are to be expressed to the proper number of significant figures.
To convert millimeters to meters and perform rounding, we divide the millimeters by 1000 since there are 1000 millimeters in a meter. Then, we round the result to the nearest hundredth when necessary to match the required precision.
- 1.1 mm = 1.1 / 1000 = 0.0011 m (no rounding needed)
- 2.5 mm = 2.5 / 1000 = 0.0025 m (no rounding needed)
- 10 mm = 10 / 1000 = 0.01 m (no rounding needed)
- 15 mm = 15 / 1000 = 0.015 m (no rounding needed)
When dealing with whole numbers and significant figures, it's important to round our answer to the precision indicated by the least precise measurement. For example, if we have the measurement 78,500 m with the last significant digit being the hundreds place, we would round 78,138 m to 78,100 m to maintain the proper precision.
In the context of expressing uncertainty, if the area of the floor is 12.0 m² with a 3 percent uncertainty, this translates to an uncertainty of 0.36 m². Rounding to the nearest tenth of a square meter, it becomes 0.4 m².
Remember that when performing addition and subtraction, round the final answer to the same number of decimal places as the measurement with the least number of decimal places. So, in an example like adding 59.35 g and 35.5 g, you would round the final answer to the tenth place since 35.5 g is the least precise.