Question

There are approximately 3.1 x 10 people in the United States. If each person has 4.1 x

10' coins, how many coins are there altogether?
A) 1.27 x 10^9 coins
B) 1.27 x 10^10 coins
C) 1.27 x 10^11 coins
D) 1.27 x 10^12 coins

Answer 1

After multiplying the estimated number of people in the US (3.1 x 10^8) by the average number of coins each person has (4.1 x 10^2), the result is 1.271 x 10^11 coins. This is assuming the unintended omission of the exponent in the population figure was 3.1 x 10^8.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the total number of coins held altogether by people in the United States, we perform a multiplication of the two given numbers: the population and the average number of coins per person. In this case, we are missing the population number from the original problem so we can assume it may be 3.1 x 10^8 (as this is a common approximation of the US population). We multiply 3.1 x 10^8 (the estimated number of people in the US) by 4.1 x 10^2 (the number of coins per person).

Here is the computation step by step:

1. Multiply the significands: 3.1 x 4.1 = 12.71.
2. Add the exponents of 10: 8 + 2 = 10.
3. The result is 12.71 x 10^10 coins.

Since scientific notation requires the significand to be between 1 and 10, we adjust the result to 1.271 x 10^11 coins, which corresponds to option C.