pH of acids, bases and salts

Exercise 18

    

A chemist has found experimentally that a 0.015 $M$  nitrous acid solution has a $pH$ = 2.63. Find the value of the $pK_a$ that he deduced from there !

$HNO_2$: weak acid Given $y$ $=$ $[H_3O^+]$ $=$ $10^{-pH}$ $=$ $10^{-2.63}$ The equation $y^2$ $+$ $K_a\;y$ $-$ $K_a\;c$ $=$ $0$ produces: $K_a$ $=$ $\frac{y^2}{c-y}$ $pK_a$ $=$ $-log(\frac{y^2}{c-y})$ = 3.44