Calculating Significant Figures: 43.49 cm to Meters

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    Significant figures
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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around converting a measurement of 43.49 centimeters into meters, specifically focusing on the concept of significant figures in the conversion process.

Discussion Character

  • Conceptual clarification, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants explore how to maintain significant figures during unit conversion, questioning whether the conversion should result in 0.4349 meters or another value.

Discussion Status

Some participants suggest that the number of significant figures should remain consistent in the conversion, while others reiterate this point, indicating a shared understanding of the importance of significant figures in measurements.

Contextual Notes

There is a focus on the interpretation of significant figures and how they apply to the conversion from centimeters to meters, with no explicit consensus reached on the final value.

Shay10825
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If I measured something to be 43.49 centimeters with a meter stick and I wanted to convert that into meters, would it become 0.4349 cm or 0.43 cm??

Thanks
 
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keep the same number of sig figs
 
andrewchang said:
keep the same number of sig figs

So it would be 0.4349 cm because 0.4349 cm and 43.49 m have 4 sig figs?
 
Shay10825 said:
So it would be 0.4349 cm because 0.4349 cm and 43.49 m have 4 sig figs?

I believe you must keep the same number of significant figures. So yes, it would be 4349.
 
ok thanks:smile:
 

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