Exercises Section 1.

1
SI-units and dimensional analysis
1) A student is trying to remember some formulas from geometry. In what follows, assume A is
area, V is volume, and all other variables are lengths. Determine which formulas are
dimensionally consistent (in other words, check which formulas give the correct units):
(a) 𝑉 = 𝜋𝑟 2 ℎ (d) 𝑉 = 𝜋𝑑2
2 𝜋𝑑 3
(b) A = 2𝜋𝑟 + 2𝜋𝑟ℎ (e) 𝑉 = 6
(c) 𝑉 = 0.5𝑏ℎ
2) Consider the physical quantities s, v, a, and t with dimensions 𝑥 = [m], [𝑣] = [m s −1 ], [𝑎] =
[m s −2 ], and [𝑡] = [s]. Determine whether each of the following equations is dimensionally
consistent.
𝑥
(a) 𝑣 2 = 2𝑎𝑥 (c) 𝑣 =
𝑡
(b) 𝑥 = 𝑣𝑡 2 + 0.5𝑎𝑡 2 (d) 𝑎 =
𝑣
𝑡

3) Consider the physical quantities 𝑚, 𝑥, 𝑣, 𝑎 and 𝑡 with dimensions 𝑚 = [kg], 𝑥 = [m], 𝑟 =

[m], 𝑣 = [ms −1 ], 𝑎 = [ms −2 ] and 𝑡 = [s]. Assuming each of the following equations is
dimensionally consistent, find the dimension of the quantity on the left-hand side of the
equation:
(a) 𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎 (d) 𝑊 = 𝑥𝑚𝑎
(b) 𝐸𝑘 = 0.5𝑚𝑣 2 (e) 𝐿 = 𝑚𝑣𝑟
(c) 𝑝 = 𝑚𝑣

Significant figures
4) Indicate how many significant figures there are in each of the following measured values.
a) 246.32 g) 14.600
b) 107.854 h) 1 × 10−6m
c) 100.3 i) 700000
d) 0.678 j) 350.670
e) 1.008 k) 1.0000
f) 0.00340 l) 320001

5) Calculate the answers to the appropriate number of significant figures.

a) 32.567 + 135.0 + 1.4567 =
b) 246.24 + 238.278 + 98.3 =
c) 658.0 + 23.5478 + 1345.29 =
6) Calculate the answers to the appropriate number of significant figures.
a) 23.7 × 3.8 =
b) 45.76 × 0.25 =
c) 81.04 × 0.010 =
d) 6.47 × 64.5 =
e) 43.678 × 64.1 =
1.678
f) 0.42 =
23.367
g) =
3.74
4278
h) 1.006
=