Final answer:
An earthquake with a Richter Scale reading of 7.9 is not exactly any of the provided times more powerful than an earthquake with a rating of 3.2; however, the closest approximation is 5623 times more powerful.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question asks how many times more powerful an earthquake with a Richter Scale reading of 7.9 is compared to one with a rating of 3.2. The Richter Scale is logarithmic, where each whole number increment represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude and roughly 31.6 times more energy release.
Therefore, to determine how many times more powerful the 7.9 earthquake is than the 3.2 earthquake, you calculate the difference in magnitude (7.9 - 3.2 = 4.7) and then use 10 to the power of that difference (10^4.7). Doing this calculation, we find that 10^4.7 is approximately 50118.72, which means the 7.9 earthquake is about 50118.72 times more powerful than the 3.2 earthquake.
The closest approximate answer would be (a) 5623 times, recognizing that it is an inexact match.