Significant Figures

While Mastering does not directly grade your answer based on the number of significant figures it contains, the tolerance mentioned above is centered around the properlyrounded answer $($as opposed to the full$-$precision answer$).$ In some problems you will be explicitly told how many significant figures your answer should contain. You may find that entering extra significant figures than required often causes your answer to still fall within the accepted tolerance and thus graded as correct. However, there are problems where not rounding properly may cause your answer to fall outside the accepted tolerance, so it's important to follow the general rules for significant figures, as the following example illustrates.

Suppose you are asked to find the area of a rectangle that is $3\mathrm{.}1cm$ wide and $4\mathrm{.}4cm$ long. The full$-$precision answer from your calculator would be $13\mathrm{.}64c{m}^2,$ although given the rules for significant figures, this answer should be rounded to two significant figures before being entered, or $14c{m}^2.$ If you were to enter $13\mathrm{.}64c{m}^2,$ it would not be graded as correct since this value falls outside the $2\%$ tolerance of the properly$-$rounded answer of $14c{m}^2.$ Instead, you would receive feedback from Mastering telling you to check the rounding of your final answer, although you would not be deducted any points.

Part A

What is the area of a rectangle that is $3\mathrm{.}1cm$ wide and $4\mathrm{.}4cm$ long? Enter the full$-$precision answer first to see the corresponding feedback before entering the properlyrounded answer. $($You do not need to enter the units in this case since they are provided to the right of the answer box$).$