Final answer:
To find how many miles are in a centimeter, a two-step conversion is carried out, leading to the conclusion that 1 centimeter is equivalent to 1/161,000 miles.
Step-by-step explanation:
To answer the question of how many miles are in a centimeter, we must go through a multi-step unit conversion process. Given that 1 kilometer is equivalent to 0.621 miles, we first convert kilometers to meters, as 1 kilometer equals 1000 meters. Then we convert meters to centimeters, since 1 meter equals 100 centimeters. Next, we'll make use of the provided conversion factor that 1 mile equals 1.61 kilometers.
To find the value of one centimeter in miles, we can perform the following calculations:
- Convert centimeters to kilometers: there are 100,000 centimeters in a kilometer (since 1 km = 1000 m and 1 m = 100 cm).
- Apply the conversion factor for kilometers to miles, using the relationship where 1 mile = 1.61 km.
Now, let's do the math:
1 centimeter = 1/100,000 kilometers because there are 100,000 centimeters in a kilometer.
Thus, 1 centimeter = (1/100,000 km) × (1 mile/1.61 km)
The kilometers cancel out, and now we multiply the remaining fraction:
(1/100,000) × (1/1.61) = 1/161,000 miles
Therefore, 1 centimeter is equivalent to 1/161,000 miles.