Question

Nathan measured a line to be 7.4 inches long. If the actual length of the line is 7.2 inches, then what was the percent error of the measurement, to the nearest tenth of a percent?

Answer 1

Nathan's percent error in measuring a line was calculated to be approximately 2.8% by comparing his measured value to the actual value and then converting that difference into a percentage.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the percent error of Nathan's measurement, we first need to calculate the absolute error, which is the difference between the measured value and the actual value. Then we divide the absolute error by the actual value and multiply by 100 to get the percent error.

The absolute error is:
|Measured Value - Actual Value| = |7.4 inches - 7.2 inches| = 0.2 inches.

The percent error is calculated as follows:
Percent Error = (Absolute Error / Actual Value) × 100%
Percent Error = (0.2 inches / 7.2 inches) × 100% = 2.777...× 100% ≈ 2.8%.

So Nathan's percent error, to the nearest tenth of a percent, is 2.8%.