first question here just physics 1 i guess im in year after intro to IPS. I need help with conversions. How do i convert 1 mph into 1 meter/second reporting to 5 sig figures please show steps

Question

theeric · Answer

Do you know about using "conversion factors"?

anonymous · Answer

yes but im not sure what conversion factors to use @theEric

theeric · Answer

Well, there is always the internet! Otherwise, use a value that your book lists! I know that $1\ [hr]=3600\ [s]$, and so $1=\dfrac{1\ [hr]}{3600\ [s]}$ would be useful. That is exact, by the way. Significant figures are not to be considered!

For distance, search.yahoo.com says that $1\ [mi]=1609.344\ [m]$, and so $1=\dfrac{1609.344\ [m]}{1\ [mi]}$ would be appropriate!

Now, 1mph will not be 1m/s, but but you can convert from one unit to the other. If you have 1mph, I assume that is exact, like 1 hour and 3600 seconds. The only significant figures come from the measurement of a mile in meters. So, we should really limit that to five significant figures.

$1609.344\rightarrow ?$
How do you express 1609.344 with only five significant figures?

theeric · Answer

Or, rather, you can convert and them reduce the significant figures - that is actually the better approach. Any questions?