Questions: What average volume should the chemical engineer report? Be sure your answer has the correct number of significant digits.

Solution Steps

We are given the volumes of pollutants from three different plants:

• Cross Creek: 100.1 L
• Allegheny: 56.3 L
• Susquehanna: 31.6 L

Add the volumes together: \[ 100.1 + 56.3 + 31.6 = 188.0 \text{ L} \]

Divide the total volume by the number of plants (3): \[ \text{Average volume} = \frac{188.0}{3} = 62.6667 \text{ L} \]

The volumes provided have 4, 3, and 3 significant digits respectively. The average should be reported with the least number of significant digits, which is 3.

Thus, the average volume should be rounded to 62.7 L.

Final Answer