Ryan estimates the measurement of the volume of a popcorn container to be 282 cubic inches. The actual volume of the popcorn container is 289 cubic inches. What is the relative error of ryan's measurement to the nearest thousandth?

Answer 1

(289-282)/289, expressed as a decimal to three places.

That would be 0.024

You could put a minus sign in front of it to show it was lower than the true value, but that usually is not done.