A student calculates the average speed of an object by measuring the distance it travels and the time taken. If the measured distance is x = (40.0 0.4) m and the time is t = (5.0 0.1) s, the percentage error in the calculated speed is :

Step-by-step solution

The speed v is given by the formula v = x t . According to the rules of error propagation for division, the maximum relative error is the sum of the relative errors of the individual quantities: v v = x x + t t To find the percentage error, we multiply by 100 : % error in v = ( x x 100 ) + ( t t 100 ) Percentage error in distance x = 0.4 40.0 100 = 1 % Percentage error in time t = 0.1 5.0 100 = 2 % Therefore, the percentage error in speed is: 1 % + 2 % = 3 % Answer: 3 %