In compounding a prescription, a pharmacist weighed 0.050 g of a substance on a balance insensitive to quantities smaller than 0.004 g. what was the maximum potential error in terms of percentage?

8%

Step-by-step explanation:

Data provided in the problem:

Weight of the substance measured = 0.050 g

Smallest quantity that can be measured = 0.004 g

Now,

The Maximum potential error is calculated as:

Maximum potential error =

on substituting the respective values, we get

Maximum potential error =

or

Maximum potential error = 8%