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frozonecom
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Significant Figures in Data
Suppose I have two recorded Molarity of a certain solution.
And the data I have are:
0.092 M and 0.095 M --- which both has 2 significant figures.
If I were asked to get the AVERAGE MOLARITY of my substance, then I'd do:
(0.092 M + 0.095 M)/2 = My AVG. MOLARITY.
Since 2 is an exact number, I will not base the SF of my final answer to that number.
Instead, I'd base it to my Molarities, but I know I should do the addition first, since they're enclosed in a parenthesis. (following PEMDAS)
0.092 M + 0.095 M = 0.187 M ----- (It should have 3 decimal places, since that is my least decimal place in my data)
Then, dividing my answer by 2, should I report it as:
0.0935 M ----- since 0.187 has 3 SF
OR
0.094 M ------- since my initial working data only has 2 SF?
Which one is more correct? Which one should I follow and why?
Suppose I have two recorded Molarity of a certain solution.
And the data I have are:
0.092 M and 0.095 M --- which both has 2 significant figures.
If I were asked to get the AVERAGE MOLARITY of my substance, then I'd do:
(0.092 M + 0.095 M)/2 = My AVG. MOLARITY.
Since 2 is an exact number, I will not base the SF of my final answer to that number.
Instead, I'd base it to my Molarities, but I know I should do the addition first, since they're enclosed in a parenthesis. (following PEMDAS)
0.092 M + 0.095 M = 0.187 M ----- (It should have 3 decimal places, since that is my least decimal place in my data)
Then, dividing my answer by 2, should I report it as:
0.0935 M ----- since 0.187 has 3 SF
OR
0.094 M ------- since my initial working data only has 2 SF?
Which one is more correct? Which one should I follow and why?
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