Exercise Answers
Module 1: Order of Operations
°F
°C
Module 2: Negative Numbers
°F
- undefined
Module 3: Decimals
If you’ve seen Modules 5 & 6, don’t worry about accuracy or precision on these exercises.
per month
miles per hour
Module 4: Fractions
- undefined
- at least
questions
scoops
- A requires
cup more than B
of the pizza
more
inches combined
inches difference
combined
more
or
or
cup
Module 5: Accuracy and Significant Figures
- exact value
- approximation
- exact value
- approximation
- exact value
- approximation
- three significant figures
- four significant figures
- five significant figures
- two significant figures
- three significant figures
- four significant figures
- two significant figures; the actual value could be anywhere between
and
- three significant figures; the actual value could be anywhere between
and
- four significant figures; the actual value could be anywhere between
and
- five significant figures; the actual value could be anywhere between
and
Module 6: Precision and GPE
- thousands
- hundreds
- tens
- thousandths
- ten thousandths
- hundred thousandths
lb
lb
- thousands place; the nearest
people
people
- hundred thousandths place; the nearest
in
in
- hundredths place; the nearest
mil
mil
miles
- ones place; the nearest
mile
mi
- ones place; the nearest
minute
min
- two sig figs
- three sig figs
mi/hr
- When dividing, we must round the result based on the accuracy; i.e., the number of significant figures.
Module 7: Formulas
(oops—the print edition says
)
representatives
representatives
representatives
electoral votes
electoral votes
electoral votes
°F; the official record high in the city was 116°F.
°C
°F
°C
mm Hg
- around
mm Hg
in
in
- yes
- no; too large
- no; too small
- yes
Module 8: Perimeter and Circumference
ft
cm
cm
ft
ft
ft
in
cm (the print textbook says
cm, which implies only one sig fig…)
in
cm
ft
m
Module 9: Percents Part 1
Module 10: Ratios, Rates, Proportions
or
miles per hour
/oz, or
¢/oz
Carmella Creeper parties like it’s 1995. /oz, or
¢/oz
/oz, or
¢/oz
; true
; false
; true
; false
; false
; true
miles
hours
miles (rounding to one sig fig seems like a good idea here)
pixels wide
Module 11: Scientific Notation
- Earth’s mass is larger because it’s a
-digit number and Mars’ mass is a
-digit number, but it might take a lot of work counting the zeros to be sure.
- Earth’s mass is about ten times larger, because the power of
is
higher than that of Mars.
- A chlorine atom’s radius is larger because it has
zeros before the significant digits begin, but a hydrogen atom’s radius has
zeros before the significant digits begin. As above, counting the zeros is a pain in the neck.
- The chlorine atom has a larger radius because its power of
is
higher than that of the hydrogen atom. (Remember that
is larger than
because
is farther to the right on a number line.)
;
;
people per square mile
people per square mile
- the proton’s mass is roughly
or
times larger
;
;
;
per person
Module 12: Percents Part 2 and Error Analysis
or
or
or
grams of added sugars is the recommended daily intake for a
calorie diet.
increase
sales tax
decrease
decrease
g;
g
g;
g
Module 13: The US Measurement System
We generally won’t worry about significant figures in these answers; we’ll probably say “ miles” even if “
miles” is technically correct.
in
ft
in
yd
ft or
ft
in
yd
mi
yd
oz
lb
- 18.75 lb
oz
fl oz
pt
pt
c
gal
fl oz
lb
oz
c
fl oz
ft
in
t
lb
lb or
lb
oz combined
lb
oz heavier
ft
in combined
ft
in longer
Module 14: The Metric System
m
cm
km
m
cm
mm
cm
mm
m
cm
m
cm
km
dam
g
kg
mg
kg
g
mg
cg
mg
kg
cg
g
L
mL
L
dL
mL
L
- they are equal in size
- about
to
bottles; this is easier if you know that a 500-milliliter bottle of Mexican Coke is called a medio litro.
Doce litros de Coca-Cola
Module 15: Converting Between Systems
We may round some of these answers to three significant figures even if the given number has fewer than three sig figs. On the other hand, you’ll see that some of these answers include a critique of a manufacturer’s decision to round numbers a certain way.
- yes,
according to the conversion, but is it really
to begin with? Rounding the result to
or
seems reasonable.
in converts to around
cm, and
cm converts to around
in. It looks like somebody used the conversion
, which is fine if you’re estimating but not if you’re going to report a number to three sig figs.
- not exactly but they’re pretty close; the error is around
. (oops—the print edition says
)
- yes; using either conversion gives a result of
kg, rounded to the nearest tenth. However, it doesn’t make sense for this to be accurate to four sig figs. It would be best to round to
or perhaps even
kg.
- not exactly; using 1 kg
lb gives a result of
kg, and using 1 lb
kg gives a result of
kg. Again, the accuracy here doesn’t make sense, especially when you consider that the numbers on the box don’t agree with each other:
.
- about
- about
- no matter which conversion you use, the result should round to
liters.
- a bit less than
Module 16: Other Conversions
We will generally round these answers to three significant figures; your answer may be slightly different depending on which conversion ratio you used.
min; if you’re familiar with the musical Rent, then you already knew the answer.
- this is roughly
years, which is indeed possible
km/hr
mi/hr
mi/hr
mi in
min
min
mi/gal
gal/mi
gal in
min
- the capacity increased by a factor of
times greater
watts per home, or
kilowatts per home (oops—the print edition says
megawatts)
watt per gallon
times more powerful
ms,
ms,
ms;
μs,
μs,
μs
- the ratio of the wavelengths of red and infrared is
to
;
the ratio of the wavelengths of infrared and red is aroundto
- this is equivalent to
chest x-rays
Module 17: Angles
- right angle
- obtuse angle
- reflexive angle
- straight angle
- acute angle
;
;
each
each
each
;
;
Module 18: Triangles
- right isosceles triangle
- obtuse scalene triangle
- acute equilateral triangle (yes, an equilateral triangle will always be acute)
;
- this is a right triangle, because
.
- this is not a right triangle, because
.
Module 19: Area of Polygons and Circles
We may occasionally include extra sig figs in these answers so you can be sure that your answer matches ours.
Module 20: Composite Figures
; the area of the rectangle is
and the areas of the triangles are
and
.
; hey, that’s what we got for #3!
- Based on the stated measurements, the distance around the track will be 401 meters, which appears to be 1 meter too long. In real life, precision would be very important here, and you might ask for the measurements to be given to the nearest tenth of a meter.
- around
(oops—the print edition says
)
- around
(Hint: Make up an easy number for the side of the square, like 2 or 10.)
- around
(Hint: The diagonals of the square are equal to the circle’s diameter.)
Module 21: Converting Units of Area
We may occasionally include extra sig figs in these answers so that you can be sure that your answer matches ours.
, rounded to two sig figs
, rounded to three sig figs
to
; if we double the linear measurement, we get four times the area.
to
; if we triple the linear measurement, we get nine times the area.
Module 22: Surface Area of Common Solids
Module 23: Area of Regular Polygons
All answers have been given to two or three significant figures.
(the area of the circle
and the area of the hexagon is
)
Module 24: Volume of Common Solids
or
(the cylinder’s volume
and the hemisphere’s volume
.)
(the cylinder’s volume
and the two hemispheres’ combined volume
)
, which is more than
.
Module 25: Converting Units of Volume
- the result is very close to
cubic yard:
- this estimate is also
cubic yard:
- around
gallons
- yes, the can is able to hold
fluid ounces; the can’s volume is roughly
.
gallons
- around
to
liters; a calculator says
liters which should technically be rounded up to
liters, but it would be reasonable to round down to
liters instead if you considered the volume of the benches and the fact that the sides might slope inwards near the bottom of the tub.
- the rectangular section of the carton has a volume of
liters, which is larger than the required
.
high
Independent verification from my kitchen. ; assuming that it’s
, these measures are equivalent to two sig figs.
; now you can laugh whenever you see someone in a heist movie load a cheap duffel bag with gold bars and carry it out of the vault.
to
to
Module 26: Pyramids and Cones
;
(if we had greater accuracy, the result would be 314.16 because it’s 100 times
.)
;
;
Module 27: Percents Part 3
students; notice that if the percent had fewer than five sig figs, we wouldn’t have been able to get an answer that was accurate to the nearest whole number.
- Yes, you can! Each bottle cost
.
Real time screenshot of my phone’s calculator. million
people
; the percent has only two sig figs, so it doesn’t make sense to assume that the price was
. They probably rounded the percent from
to make the numbers in the advertisement seems less complicated.
Module 28: Mean, Median, Mode
(because it is the seventh value in the list of thirteen)
- the median is more representative because the mean is higher than five of the six home values.
(because it appears four times in the list)
- no mode (there are no repeated values)
- AT&T Mobility
- Samoas and Thin Mints
games
games
games
- they all represent the data fairly well;
wins represents a typical Patriots season.
games
games
games
- they all represent the data fairly well;
or
wins represents a typical Bills season.
grams; the mean doesn’t seem to represent a typical clementine because there is a group of smaller ones (from
to
grams) and a group of larger ones (from
to
grams) with none in the middle.
grams; for the same reason, the median doesn’t represent a typical clementine, but you could say it helps split the clementines into a lighter group and a heavier group.
- no mode; too many values appear twice.
grams; this is a small increase over the previous mean.
grams; the median does not change when one of the highest numbers increases.
grams; you might say it represents the mass of a typical large clementine, but it doesn’t represent the entire group.
Module 29: Probability
- we should expect
copies to be acceptable
- we should expect
tax returns to have errors
Module 30: Standard Deviation
;
;
;
;
;
;
because
lb because this is halfway between
and
lb
lb because
lb and
lb encompasses
of the data
;
;
- You would not have predicted this from the data because it is more than two standard deviations below the mean, so there would be a roughly
chance of this happening randomly. In fact,
is slightly larger than
, so this is more than three standard deviations below the mean, making it even more unlikely. (You might have predicted that the Patriots would get worse when Tom Brady left them for Tampa Bay, but you wouldn’t have predicted only
wins based on the previous nineteen years of data.)
;
- You would not predict this from the data because it is more than two standard deviations above the mean, so there would be a roughly
chance of this happening randomly. In fact,
, so this is more than three standard deviations above the mean, making it even more unlikely. This increased win total is partly due to external forces (i.e., the Patriots becoming weaker and losing two games to the Bills) but even
wins would have been a bold prediction, let alone
.
;
- The trouble with making predictions about the Broncos is that their standard deviation is so large. You could choose any number between
and
wins and be within the
interval.
, so this is around
standard deviations below the mean, which makes it not very unusual. Whereas the Patriots and Bills are more consistent, the Broncos’ win totals fluctuate quite a bit and are therefore more unpredictable.
Module 31: Right Triangle Trigonometry
- the adjacent side is e, the opposite side is f, and the hypotenuse is d.
- the adjacent side is x, the opposite side is y, and the hypotenuse is r.
- the wire is approximately
long
, which is roughly
- No;
, so the puck will hit the fabric over 1 foot away from the center of the hole. (The person in the photo was given a bunch of pucks and 30 seconds to score, but he scored on his first shot. Boston Bruins at Vancouver Canucks, February 24, 2024.)
;
angle of elevation
- Yes;
, which is less than
.
- All three answers are the same rounded to three significant figures. This is true because we rounded
to the nearest tenth; if we had rounded it to
instead of
, we would have decreased the accuracy of #36 & #37 to only two sig figs and the three results all would have been slightly different.
Module 32: Slope
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
from vertical. (this would be an angle of depression of
.)
; the proportion
gives a result of exactly
.
Using the result from #7, the equationgives a result very close to
.
Module 33: Non-Right Triangle Trigonometry
;
;
- the shorter wire is roughly
feet; the longer wire is roughly
feet.
Exercise 4 is based on actual events! - the distance across the pond is roughly
meters.
;
;
Module 34: Radian Measure