Your Daily Math Problem

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Incongruent said:
The answer is to be given in meters. Otherwise you got it correct.
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If that's the case, 310,000 meters isn't correct either, because you stated round to the nearest thousandth. That would be 310,000.000 meters.
 
Tonimus said:
If that's the case, 310,000 meters isn't correct either, because you stated round to the nearest thousandth. That would be 310,000.000 meters.
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But since it's a whole number result, the decimals aren't necessary.
 
Incongruent said:
But since it's a whole number result, the decimals aren't necessary.
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But since the requirement was to the nearest thousandth, .000 is necessary to specify a precision to three decimal places.

310,000 could mean 310,000.1 rounded to the nearest whole number, whereas 310,000.000 states that the first three decimal places to the right are definitely zero.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significant_figures

[h=3]Concise rules[/h]
  • All non-zero digits are significant.
  • Zeros between non-zero digits are significant.
  • Leading zeros are never significant.
  • In a number with a decimal point, trailing zeros (those to the right of the last non-zero digit) are significant.
  • In a number without a decimal point, trailing zeros may or may not be significant. More information through additional graphical symbols or explicit information on errors is needed to clarify the significance of trailing zeros.
 
However, the number with the least amount of precision is 9, with only 1 significant figure. This means that the answer could be stated only as precise as 3*10^5.
 
How about just blowing up the mountain? That way you would see light in 0.000000000000000000000000000000 meters.
 
Incongruent said:
Well, not if you round properly.
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At which point 310km is as aaccurate as 310,000m. Can't have your cake and eat it too. Both answers are in meters. 0.310Mm would also be correct, and also satisfy your 3 decimal place accuracy requirement.
 
Tonimus said:
Can't have your cake and eat it too.
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Just have to lock myself in a box with a Geiger counter and radioactive substace setup that feeds me cake only if the Geiger counter detects radiation and not let anyone look inside or otherwise discover the result, collapsing the superposition...
 

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