This is a significant figures, engineering estimate, and assumption documentatio

Question

This is a significant figures, engineering estimate, and assumption documentation problem; not a straight forward plug in some numbers math problem. Anyone with the necessary math credentials to be in this class should not have any trouble calculating gas mileage and should have the other basic math skills necessary to provide reasonable answers. I suspect that some people will not appreciate the fact that I did not provide all the necessary numbers. Engineers need to be able to solve problems when the numbers are not handed to them. They need to be able to do research, and make educated assumptions. Of course, the necessary precision and safety f actor are highly dependent on the potential consequences of failure. Then, they need to be able to communicate what they have done. The consequences here are rather minimal, so don't bother with any safety factors or overly conservative estimates. I filled up my 20O6 Toyota Highlander gas tank at My previous fill up was at It took (I bought this vehicle new in May of 2006; and I am pretty good about changing the oil every 3-5k miles; although it is a little overdue right now) About how much did the fill up cost? (Regular gas at WaWa this week) Approximately how many gallons of gas do I use in a year? Approximately how much do I spend on gas in a year? About how much do I spend on oil changes per year? (I know I haven't given you enough information to be very precise and simply plug some numbers into a simple equation and the use your calculator; so don't ask. Use appropriate engineering estimates to make reasonable assumptions and give me some numbers; and give them to me with a precision commensurate with your assumptions, and clearly annotate your assumptions) A measured number like, 115,200 above is usually considered to have an indeterminant number of significant figures, because we don't know whether the measurement was rounded to four significant figures due to the measuring tool, or whether it just turned out to end in a couple of zeros. If the 115,200 were a stand alone measurement and we knew nothing about its genesis, what would the potential range of significant figures be? How many significant figures did you consider it to have, and why? (Note: you know where the 115,200 came from and you know the intent of the person taking the reading)

Explanation / Answer

                                                           significant figure
i filled up my .. ..      115,200    4
My previous ....             114,924                    6
it look                             12,123     5

gallon use in a year =total gallons /total years=12123/6=2020.5

if rate of one gallon is x
the charges in one year will=x*2020.5=2020.5x


potential range will 4 to 6 significant figures

i consider 4 significant figures because last two zeros don't include in significant figures

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