College

Select the answer with the correct number of significant figures for the following calculation:

[tex]31.580 + 4.26 = [/tex]

A. 35.8
B. 35.84
C. 35.840

Answer :

Certainly! Let's solve the problem step-by-step to check which answer has the correct number of significant figures.

Given calculation:
[tex]\[ 31.580 + 4.26 \][/tex]

1. First, we perform the addition:
[tex]\[ 31.580 + 4.26 = 35.839999999999996 \][/tex]

2. Now, we need to determine the correct number of significant figures in the result. According to the rules of significant figures for addition:
- The result should have the same number of decimal places as the term with the least number of decimal places in the original set of numbers.
- In our case, the numbers we are adding are 31.580 (which has 3 decimal places) and 4.26 (which has 2 decimal places).

3. The number with the fewest decimal places is 4.26, which has 2 decimal places. So, our result should also be rounded to 2 decimal places.

4. When rounding 35.839999999999996 to 2 decimal places, we get:
[tex]\[ 35.84 \][/tex]

Therefore, the correct answer, with the proper number of significant figures, is:
[tex]\[ 35.84 \][/tex]