A fisherman catches two striped bass.?

Question

The smaller of the two has a measured length of 92.53 cm (two decimal places, four significant figures), and the larger fish has a measured length of 125.3 cm (one decimal place, four significant figures). What is the total length of fish caught for the day? (Enter your answer to the correct number of digits.)

Answer 1

well if you add them you get 217.83 but the (3) is insignificant. the digits before the decimal are always kept, but the ones after are only kept to the lowest accurate number. so in this case, the lowest accuracy is in the tenths place. your answer is 217.8

Answer 2

92.53 + 125.3 cm = 217.83 cm

You want to keep the lowest amount of significant figures. Since there are 4 in each one, you would make the answer 4 significant figures.

Therefore, the answer would be 217.8 cm.

However, if the answer had turned out to be 1017.53 cm (925.0 cm + 92.53), four significant figures would have been 1018 cm (four sig digits - unrelated to number of decimals).