An electronic balance used in a mailroom displays tenths of a kilogram (range to ). How many significant figures should be used to express the mass of any package whose mass is between and ?

Question

An electronic balance used in a mailroom displays tenths of a kilogram (range  to ). How many significant figures should be used to express the mass of any package whose mass is between  and ?

Canvas Classes · Accepted Answer

Strategy:
 Significant figures in a measurement are determined by the resolution of the measuring instrument. Any digit recorded from a reading (including certain and estimated digits) is considered significant.

Step 1: Identify instrument resolution
The balance displays values like  or . This shows the instrument measures to the nearest tenth of a kilogram (one decimal place).

Step 2: Count significant figures in the sample range
A reading such as  consists of three non-zero or captive digits

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