Thread: Applied problems

A machinist is required to manufacture a circular metal disk with area 1000 cm^2. If the machinist is allowed an error tolerance of 10cm^2 in the area of the disk, how close to the ideal radius must the machinist control the radius? Round down the answer to the nearest hundred thousandth.


I vaguely think I understand what it's going for but none of my preliminary answers are correct. Help?

You're looking for how the absolute uncertainty propagates. Here's an example calculation.