Question

Taylor multiplies 8.25 x 10^4 by 0.4 x 10^4 and mistakenly got 8.65 x 10^4. Explain Taylor's mistake and provide the correct answer.

a) Taylor mistakenly added the exponents, and the correct answer is 8.29 x 10^8.
b) Taylor mistakenly added the coefficients and the exponents, and the correct answer is 8.69 x 10^8.
c) Taylor forgot to multiply the coefficients, and the correct answer is 3.30 x 10^8.
d) Taylor's calculation is correct.

Answer 1

Taylor made a mistake by improperly adding the coefficients during multiplication. The correct multiplication of 8.25 x 10^4 by 0.4 x 10^4 results in 3.3 x 10^8.

Step-by-step explanation:

The mistake in Taylor's calculation when multiplying 8.25 x 10^4 by 0.4 x 10^4 is that Taylor mistakenly added the coefficients, which is not correct for multiplication. To find the correct answer, we need to multiply both the coefficients (8.25 and 0.4) and add the exponents (4 and 4).

First, multiplying the coefficients:

• 8.25 * 0.4 = 3.3

Next, adding the exponents:

• 10^4 * 10^4 = 10^(4+4) = 10^8

Therefore, the correct answer to Taylor's multiplication is 3.3 x 10^8, which corresponds to option c).