Question 324013
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Turn on your calculator.


Press "5"


Press "2"


Press the "*[tex \Large \sqrt{x}]" key (if you are using the built in Windows calculator, check INV and then press the "x^2" key)


Round the result to 3 decimal places.


Go and explain to your instructor that approximating to three decimal places is the height of silliness.  You should never express the result of a calculation involving measurement to greater precision than the least precise of the given measurements.  Both of the given measurements in this problem were rounded to the nearest whole number, hence the result should have been rounded to the nearest whole number.  Had s/he wanted you to be precise to three decimal places, the problem should have read:


<i><b>How long is a guy wire reaching from the top of a 6.000-foot pole to a point in the ground 4.000 feet from the pole?</i></b>


John
*[tex \LARGE e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0]
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