Question

How many significant digits will the answer in the following calculations result in?

12.1 - 12.004

Answer 1

The answer will result in one significant digit.

Step-by-step explanation:

1. Subtract:

12.1 - 12.004 = 0.096

2. ROund to the correct number of significant digits:

For addition and subtraction we round the sum or the difference to the least number of digits after the decimal point there are in the problem.

For example, SInce 12.1 has one number after the decimal point and 12.004 has three numbers after the decimal point, we round the answer to one number after the decimal point because 12.1 is the number in the problem which has the least amount of digits after the decimal point.

We round 0.096 to 0.1.

0.1 has one significant digit.