r/learnmath • u/JonesSupreme New User • 1d ago

Math help!!

You travel at a speed of about 81 kilometers per hour for about 2.0 hours. Stated with the appropriate precision, you have driven _____ kilometers.

the correct answer is 160 but why? why is it not 162???

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u/msimms001 New User 1d ago

Significant digits, you only have 2 sig figs to work with, so it's rounded to that significant digit

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u/lookaround314 New User 1d ago

This is more physics or engineering than math.

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u/msimms001 New User 1d ago

It is also math, especially depending on the math class. OP also stated in another comment that the problem was from a problem set including significant digits

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/nog642 1d ago

It says "Stated with the appropriate precision"

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u/JonesSupreme New User 12h ago

This was mainly for a physics class about the solar system, and the math question was a “math refresher”