To solve the problem of multiplying 24.32 by 0.010 and determining the number of significant figures for the answer, let's carefully break down the steps:
1. Identify the Number of Significant Figures:
- The number 24.32 has 4 significant figures.
- The number 0.010 has 2 significant figures.
2. Perform the Multiplication:
- Multiply 24.32 by 0.010 to get the raw result.
3. Determine the Significant Figures for the Result:
- When performing multiplication or division, the result should have the same number of significant figures as the number in the calculation with the fewest significant figures.
- In this case, the number with the fewest significant figures is 0.010, which has 2 significant figures.
4. Record the Answer with the Correct Number of Significant Figures:
- So, after performing the multiplication, the raw result will indeed be 0.2432, but it needs to be rounded to have 2 significant figures.
- The appropriate way to round 0.2432 to 2 significant figures is to express it as 0.24.
Thus, the correct result when multiplying 24.32 by 0.010 is 0.24, and it should be recorded with 2 significant figures.
