Question

A sample of an element has a mass of 34.261 grams and a volume of 3.8 cubic centimeters. To which number of significant figures should the calculated density of the sample be expressed?
(1) 5 (3) 3
(2) 2 (4) 4

Answer 1

The answer is (2). To calculate the density, you need to divide the mass with volume. When doing division, the significant figures of result is the minimal of the numbers using before. So the answer is 2.