In order to prepare for the Olympics, Holly needs to run 10,560 feet each morning. How long of a distance is..

My answer is 3,000m, but I am unsure if this is correct. My class is currently doing unit conversions with rounding to the correct number of significant figures and I'm sad to say that I don't quite get what number of significant figures I should round to. I understand it's the least number of significant figures and that you don't count the single 1's that indicate things such as 1m=100cm but I am unsure if what I did is right.

Here's how I did it:

1 ) 1m=100cm ( 100 has the least # of sig. fig.s, as it only has one ).
2 ) 1ft = 30.48cm
3 ) 30.48 x 10,560 = 321,868.8 / 100 = 3,218.688
4 ) Round the answer to the first sig. fig. which is 3 and voila, I get 3,000.

Any experts on the subject ( or anyone skilled at all in this subject ) willing to give a newbie some guidance to how I got this right/wrong ?

You seem to have gotten it down. :)

You were correct to realize the conversion to centimeters. From there you converted the distance to centimeters and the last obvious step was to divide by 100 to get meters.

Your logic is sound. :)

P.S. - I am pleased to see someone who gave an honest attempt to figure it out - and correctly I might add - before coming to yahoo answers to verify. So many people just ask for answers and there are plenty of people who feel they're proving themselves by giving out answers.

Actually, your answer should have four sig figs... like the data given in the problem. When looking for significant figures, ignore your conversion rates. :)

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