Question

a chemical engineer must report the average volume of a certain pollutant produced by the plants under his supervision. here are the data he has been given by each plant:
plant volume of pollutant
oglala 0.20 l
allegheny 0.99 l
pinecrest 16.0 l
what average volume should the chemical engineer report? be sure your answer has the correct number of significant digits.

Explanation:

Step1: Calculate sum of volumes

$0.20 + 0.99+16.0=17.19$

Step2: Calculate average

There are 3 data - points. The average volume $\bar{V}=\frac{17.19}{3}=5.73$

Step3: Determine significant digits

The least number of significant digits among the original data is 2 (in 0.20 and 0.99). So, we round 5.73 to 2 significant digits. Rounding 5.73 to 2 significant digits gives 5.7.

Answer:

5.7