Calculate the difference 12.0875 – 7.50 using significant digits. a. 4.5 b. 4.587 c. 4.59 d. 4.6

C.4.59

Significant digits are digits expressing precision of a measurement. Non-zero digits are always significant but zeroes can be either included or ignored. For instance, zeroes that comes before other digits aren't significant. For example 0.058 has two significant digits. In this exercise, we have two numbers:

12.0875

7.50

The number 12.0875 has five significant digits while 7.50 has three significant digits. If we add or subtract two numbers, the least number of decimal places (that isn't the same as significant digits) in any of the two numbers must be the same as the number of decimal places in the result. Hence, for 12.0875 we have four decimal places and for 7.50 we have two decimal places. Therefore, the result must have two decimal places:

12.0875 - 7.50 = 4.59

step-by-step explanation: