The system uses a simple Cartesian coordinate system to specify locations. The error is less than:

The system uses a simple Cartesian coordinate system to specify locations. The error is less than:

• A. 1:1,000
• B. 1:10,000
• C. 1:100,000
• D. 1:1,000,000

Answer: (B)

In a Cartesian coordinate system, how precisely a point is defined depends on how many decimal places you record in the coordinates. If coordinates are written with four decimals, the smallest step you can distinguish is 0.0001 units, and the worst-case rounding error is about half of that, 0.00005 units. Relative to typical coordinate spans used in such systems, this corresponds to roughly one part in ten thousand. So the location is specified with an accuracy better than 1:10,000. The other options would imply coarser or finer precision than what four-decimal recording generally provides.