A student measured the height of a pole as 5.98 m, which is less than the actual height. If the percentage error is 5%, find, correct to two decimal places, the actual height of the pole.
Worked solution (try it first)
Let the actual height be h.
The percentage error is taken of the actual height, so the error is 0.05h.
The measurement is too small, so h−0.05h=5.98, that is 0.95h=5.98.
Divide by 0.95: h=6.2947…, which is 6.29 m to two decimal places, option C.