Algebra I Notes Unit Analysis and Significant Figures Unit 00b:

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1 NOTE: This standard should be taught and reinforced throughout the year when applicable. Writing the units of each variable in a real-life problem helps you determine the units for the answer. This is called unit analysis and it is often used in problem solving in science. When the same units of measure occur in the numerator and the denominator of an expression, you can cancel the units. Note: It is helpful to have conversion tables available for units of time, capacity, mass, linear measure; etc. Abbreviations of units should also be included. In real world problems, the answers are usually not numbers but quantities: numbers with units, which involves measurement. In their work in measurement up through Grade 8, students primarily measure commonly used attributes such as length, area, and volume. In high school, students encounter a wider variety of units in modeling, e.g., acceleration, currency conversions, derived quantities such as person-hours and heating degree days, social science rates such as percapita income, and rates in everyday life such as points scored per game or batting averages. They also encounter novel situations in which they themselves must conceive the attributes of interest. For example, to find a good measure of overall highway safety, they might propose measures such as fatalities per year, fatalities per year per driver, or fatalities per vehicle-mile traveled. Such a conceptual process is sometimes called quantification. Quantification is important for science, as when surface area suddenly stands out as an important variable in evaporation. Quantification is also important for companies, which must conceptualize relevant attributes and create or choose suitable measures for them. N.Q.1 Reason quantitatively and use units to solve problems. Use units as a way to understand problems and to guide the solution of multi-step problems; choose and interpret units consistently in formulas; choose and interpret the scale and the origin in graphs and data displays. An important component of number and quantity is the concept of ratio and proportion. Students should be able to simplify common ratios to find unit rates and to set up and solve proportions. Review: 1inches 1foot 1foot 1inches When is each used? Example: Convert 4 ½ feet to inches. Alg I Unit 00b Notes Unit Analysis and Significant Figures 3/18/013 page 1

2 A few sample problems can be used to support this standard. 1. Sam drives his car 150 miles in 3 hours. Find the unit rate. a. Sam drives 1 mile per 50 hours. b. Sam drives 50 miles per hour. c. Sam drives 30 miles per hour. d. Sam drives 150 miles per 3 hours. ANS: B DOK 5. A model of a boat is 13. inches long. The scale of the model to the original is inches:5 feet. How long is the boat? a. 5 ft c. 33 ft b. 6.6 ft d. 13 ft ANS: C DOK 6. A 5-foot tree casts a -foot shadow. At the same time, a fence casts a -foot shadow. How tall is the fence? a. ft c. 8 ft b. 4 d. ft ANS: C DOK A common example: 16. Kevin ran at a rate of 13 km/h. Convert his speed to meters per minute. a. 0. m/min c. 17 m/min b. 3.6 m/min d. 1,000 m/min ANS: C DOK Ex #1 A pipe is leaking at the rate of 8 fluid ounces per minute. Use dimensional analysis to find out how many gallons the pipe is leaking per hour. a. 3,840 gal/h c gal/h b. 0.0 gal/h d gal/h We start by listing the given leaking rate: 8 ounces/minute Multiplying by conversion factors for liquid volume we can cancel units using unit analysis. Note: make sure the numerator/denominators are correct so the units can cancel. 8 oz 1 min 1 cup 1 pt 1 qt 1 gal 8 oz cups pt 4 qt 1gal 16 min Alg I Unit 00b Notes Unit Analysis and Significant Figures 3/18/013 page

3 The conversion factor for minutes to hours is 60 minutes = 1 hour 1 gal 60 min gal min 1hr hr ANS: C DOK Another example can be illustrated by posing a time-distance-rate problem.- 4. Molly jogged at a rate of 6 miles per hour. What was her speed in feet per second? a. 8.8 ft/s b ft/s c. 176 ft/s d. 58 ft/s ANS: A DOK 7. Toya's dachshund puppy can sprint at a speed up to 15 feet per second. What is this speed in inches per second? a. in./s c. 150 in./s b. in./s d. 180 in./s 3. A printer prints 4 pages in 3 minutes. Which unit rate is correct? a pages per minute b. 8 pages per minute c. 7 pages per hour d pages per hour ANS: D DOK ANS: B DOK 1 5. A proofreader read 195 pages in 7 hours. To the nearest hundredth, what is her reading rate in pages per minute? a. 0.0 pages/min c pages/min b pages/min d pages/min ANS: B DOK 9. A laser printer prints 135 pages in 5 minutes. How many pages does it print in minutes? a. 110 pages c. 594 pages b. 0 pages d. 970 pages ANS: C DOK Alg I Unit 00b Notes Unit Analysis and Significant Figures 3/18/013 page 3

4 SHORT ANSWER 1. A train travels 10 miles in one hour. What is its speed in miles per minute? ANS: mi/min DOK. The ratio of the sale price of a textbook to the original price is 1:3. The original price is $81. What is the sale price? ANS: $7 DOK 3. Shayla is 5 feet tall and casts a shadow feet long. At the same time, a nearby lamppost casts a shadow 8 feet long. Write and solve a proportion to find the height of the lamppost. 4. Find the value of x in the diagram. ANS: ; 0 ft DOK ANS: in. DOK 5. A boat travels 36 miles in one hour. What is its speed in miles per minute? ANS: 0.6 mi/min DOK 6. The ratio of lemon juice to water in lemonade is 1:5. If 15 cups of water are used to make a pitcher of lemonade, how many cups of lemon juice are needed? ANS: 3 cups DOK 8. Find the value of y in the diagram ANS: m DOK Alg I Unit 00b Notes Unit Analysis and Significant Figures 3/18/013 page 4

5 N.Q.: Define appropriate quantities for the purpose of descriptive modeling. NOTE: This standard should be taught and reinforced throughout the year when applicable. N.Q.3 Choose a level of accuracy appropriate to limitations on measurement when reporting quantities. NOTE: This standard should be taught and reinforced throughout the year when applicable. Rounding to the Appropriate Significant Digit NOTE: Usually this skill goes hand-and-hand with precision, accuracy, error and tolerance. Here it is in isolation. When rounding to the appropriate significant digit, all the digits that are known with certainty are called significant digits. Below are the rules for determining significant digits. The only tricky digits are the zeros: All non-zero digits are significant digits. 3 has one significant digit.5 has two significant digits has six significant digits Zeros that occur between significant digits are significant digits. 07 has 3 significant digits has 4 significant digits has 5 significant digits Zeros to the right of the decimal point AND to the right of a non-zero digit are significant digits has significant digits (the 0 before the decimal is not significant while the 0 to the right of the decimal point and the digit 1 are significant) has significant digits (just the last two) 4.60 has 3 significant digits 460 has significant digits (zero is to the left of the decimal point) has 4 significant digits has 5 significant digits (the two zeros to the right of the decimal point are significant this makes the zero to the left of the decimal point significant because it lies between significant digits) Example: Determine the number of significant digits in each measurement. Alg I Unit 00b Notes Unit Analysis and Significant Figures 3/18/013 page 5

6 (a) 3.75 (b) (c) the right (d) significant digits (all nonzero digits) 5 significant digits (zero is between significant digits) 3 significant digits (zero after the last nonzero digit and to of the decimal point is significant) 1 significant digit Differing levels of precision can cause us a problem when dealing with arithmetic operations. Suppose I wish to add 11.1 seconds to seconds. The answer, 4.57 seconds, is misleading. That is: 11.1 seconds implies the time is between and seconds seconds implies the time is between and seconds The sum should imply the time is between and 4.65 seconds But the sum 4.57 seconds implies the time is between and 4.575, which is more precise than the actual result. So it is generally accepted that when you add or subtract, you report your answer to the same precision as the least precise measure. In other words, the answer should have the same number of digits to the right of the decimal point as the measurement with the least number of digits to the right of the decimal point. In our example, we would report 4.57 as 4.6 seconds. Example: Calculate. Use the correct number of significant digits. (a) , 6.7 Answer rounded to 1 digit to the right of the decimal (tenths) (b) (units) Answer rounded to no digits to the right of the decimal Multiplying or dividing measures creates a different type of problem. For instance, I want to find the area of a rectangle that measures.7 cm by 4.6 cm. When I multiply, I obtain the answer 1.4 cm. However,.7 implies.65 cm to.75 cm Alg I Unit 00b Notes Unit Analysis and Significant Figures 3/18/013 page 6

7 4.6 implies 4.55 cm to 4.65 cm The product should imply cm to cm But the product 1.4cm implies cm to 1.45 cm, which is more precise than the actual result. The accepted practice when multiplying or dividing is to report the result using the fewest number of significant digits in the original measures given. Or, when you multiply or divide measurements, the answer should have the same number of significant digits as the measurement with the least number of significant digits. In our example, there are two significant digits in.7 cm and 4.6 cm, so the result is rounded to two significant digits, 1 cm. Example: Calculate. Use the correct number of significant digits. (a) Find the area of a parallelogram with height of 1.1 inches and base of 6 inches. Area = (1.1)(6), which is 7.6. However, the lowest number of significant digits is one, so we would round the answer to 70 square inches. (b) However, the lowest number of significant digits is one, so we would round the answer to 300. Alg I Unit 00b Notes Unit Analysis and Significant Figures 3/18/013 page 7

8 Sample Problems 1. Use the diagram below. 9.3 cm A = (9.3 cm) (6. cm) = cm 6. cm A rectangle s sides are measured to be 6. cm and 9.3 cm. What is the rectangle s area rounded to the correct number of significant digits? (A) cm (B) 57.7 cm (C) 58 cm (D) 60 cm. In the formula F I at, F and I are measured in meters per second and t is measured in seconds. In what units is a measured? (A) meters (B) seconds (C) meters per second (D) meters per second squared Alg I Unit 00b Notes Unit Analysis and Significant Figures 3/18/013 page 8