Final answer:
Company B's monthly budget of 5×108 dollars is 25,000 times greater than company A's budget of 2×104 dollars. This comparison is done by dividing company B's budget by company A's and calculating the resulting factor.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question asks how many times greater the monthly budget for company B is than that of company A. First, we identify company A's monthly budget as 2×104 dollars and company B's as 5×108 dollars.
To compare the two budgets, we can divide company B's budget by company A's budget:
(5×108) ÷ (2×104)
First, we calculate how many times greater 108 is than 104. To do this, we subtract the exponents:
8 - 4 = 4, so 108 is 104 times greater than 104, or 10,000 times greater.
Next, we compare the coefficients:
5 ÷ 2 = 2.5 times greater.
Finally, to get the answer, we multiply these two results:
10,000 times x 2.5 times = 25,000 times greater.
Hence, the monthly budget for company B is 25,000 times greater than that for company A, which corresponds to answer choice D.