Let A be the area of a pen of radius r. Then
A(r)Differentiating with respect to r,A′(r)The exact area desired is A0. Let the corresponding exact radius desired be r0.Using the linear approximation formula, where ΔA is the change in A corresponding to a change in r of Δr,ΔAΔrWhat we’re interested in is the percent error r can have. The percent error is:100r0Δr=πr2=2πr≈A′(r0)Δr=2πr0Δr≈2πr0ΔA≈1002πr0⋅r0ΔA=1002(πr02)ΔA=1002⋅A0ΔA=(100A0ΔA)21≤(2)21=1
(To get the last line, we used the given information that the percent error in the area, 100A0ΔA, must be less than 2%.)
We conclude the error in r cannot be more than 1%.