Question

What is 39 to 1 significant figure​

Answer 1

Which statement best completes the diagram?
Cultural features
of China
The Han are the
largest ethnic
group
Most people speak
Mandarin Chinese?
A. Its music is based mostly on Japanese traditions.
B. Its most popular art is critical of the government.
C. Different regions have their own unique cuisines.
D. Most people live in small farming villages.

Answer 2

Answer: 40

Step-by-step explanation

We can only keep one of the digits: either the tens digit or the units digit. If we kept only the units digit, then we go from 39 to 9 which is a very steep drop. If we kept the tens digit then we go from 39 to 30

The 0 in the "30" is not significant. It's just a placeholder to help us tell 30 apart from simply 3. The drop from 39 to 30 is much smaller (compared to from 39 to 9). But you can probably see that it's even better to bump up to 40 instead, due to the smaller change.

In short, 39 rounds up to 40 when rounding to one significant digit.