Question

In​ 2009, the national debt of a government was about ​$10.5 trillion. Using 308.0 million as the population for that​ year, about how much was this per​ person? Write the amount in standard notation to the nearest dollar.

Answer 1

34091 dollars per person

Explanation:

In order to answer the question, you have to divide the amount of debt by the amount of population to obtain the amount of dollars per person.

The debt was $10.5 trillion. A trillion is a thousand billion (1000 multiplied by a billion which is
`10^(9)` in scientific notation)

1000=
`10^(3)`

One trillion is
`(10^(3))(10^(9))=10^(12)`

The debt is: $ 10.5 x
`10^(12)`

The population is scientific notation is: 308.0 x
`10^(6)`

Dividing the amount of debt by the amount of population:

`((10.5)(10^(12)))/((308.0)(10^(6)))=((10.5)(10^(12-6)))/(308.0)=((10.5)(10^(6)))/(308.0)`

Simplifying and expressing it in standard notation:

34090.9 dollars per person

Rounding to the nearest dollar:

34091 dollars per person.