Problem
A chemical engineer must report the average volume of a certain pollutant produced by the plants under her supervision. Here are the data she has been given by each plant: \begin{tabular}{|c|r|} \hline \multicolumn{1}{|c|}{ plant } & \begin{tabular}{r} volume of \\ pollutant \end{tabular} \\ \hline Cross Creek & $3.01 \mathrm{~L}$ \\ \hline Allegheny & $47.88 \mathrm{~L}$ \\ \hline New Bedford & $0.961 \mathrm{~L}$ \\ \hline \end{tabular} What average volume should the chemical engineer report? Be sure your answer has the correct number of significant digits. \[ \square \mathrm{L} \] ㅁ
Solution
Step 1 ：\(3.01 \, \text{L} + 47.88 \, \text{L} + 0.961 \, \text{L} = 51.851 \, \text{L}\)
Step 2 ：\(\frac{51.851 \, \text{L}}{3 \, \text{plants}} = 17.2836666667 \, \text{L/plant}\)
Step 3 ：\(\text{Round to three significant digits: } 17.3 \, \text{L/plant}\)
Step 4 ：\(\boxed{17.3 \, \text{L/plant}}\)
