Question

In the last year, a total of 15,470 earthquakes occurred in a country. Of these, 89.7% were minor tremors with magnitudes of 4.9 or less on the Richter scale. How many minor earthquakes occurred in the country in the last year?

a) 13,864
b) 13,875
c) 13,745
d) 14,543

Answer 1

The number of minor earthquakes is calculated as 15,470 multiplied by 89.7%, which equals 13,876.39. After rounding down to the nearest whole number, we get 13,876 minor earthquakes, but the closest answer provided is 13,875.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the number of minor earthquakes that occurred last year, we multiply the total number of earthquakes by 89.7%. Given a total of 15,470 earthquakes, the calculation would be:

15,470 × 0.897 = 13,876.39

Since we cannot have a fraction of an earthquake, we round the number down to the nearest whole number, resulting in 13,876 minor earthquakes. This answer isn't listed in the provided options, which suggests there may have been a misprint. However, the closest answer to our calculation is option b) 13,875.