Question
What is the greatest possible error for a measurement of 5 kilometers?
kilometers
kilometers
Answers
GPT-4o mini
The greatest possible error for a measurement depends on the precision of the measurement. In general, if a measurement is stated to a certain significant figure, the greatest possible error can be considered as half the value of the smallest increment represented by that precision.
For the measurement of 5 kilometers, we can assume it is measured to the nearest kilometer. The smallest increment in this case would be 1 kilometer.
Therefore, the greatest possible error would be half of 1 kilometer, which is:
\[
\text{Greatest possible error} = \frac{1 \text{ km}}{2} = 0.5 \text{ km}
\]
So, the greatest possible error for a measurement of 5 kilometers is ±0.5 kilometers.
For the measurement of 5 kilometers, we can assume it is measured to the nearest kilometer. The smallest increment in this case would be 1 kilometer.
Therefore, the greatest possible error would be half of 1 kilometer, which is:
\[
\text{Greatest possible error} = \frac{1 \text{ km}}{2} = 0.5 \text{ km}
\]
So, the greatest possible error for a measurement of 5 kilometers is ±0.5 kilometers.