Question

A students calculation was found to have a 15.6% error, and the actual value was determined to be 25.7 mL. What are the two possible values for the students experimental measurement?

Answer 1

The actual value = 25.7 ml
The error = 15.6%
This means that the value of error = 0.156 * 25.7 = 4.0092 ml

Now, the error percentage found means that the student got the value either greater than the actual one with the value of error or less than the actual one with the value of error.

This means that the two possible readings are:
either : 25.7 + 4.0092  = 29.7092 ml
or : 25.7 - 4.0092  = 21.6908 ml

Answer 2

To find what 15.6% of 25.7 is, multiply 25.7 by 15.6% in decimal form which is .156
25.7 x 0.156 = 3.9936
The answer to this is 25.7 plus or minus 3.9936 meaning your two possible values for the student's experiment are 29.4936 or 21.7064