Question

Pluto is 5,560,000,000 years old. Estimate the age of Pluto by writing it in the form of x * 10ʸ years, where x and y are single-digit numbers.

a) 6 * 10⁹
b) 6 * 10⁸
c) 5 * 10⁹
d) 5 * 10⁸

Answer 1

The estimated age of Pluto is 5 * 10⁹ years.

Step-by-step explanation:

To estimate the age of Pluto, we need to write the given number, 5,560,000,000, in scientific notation in the form of x * 10ʸ years. Scientific notation represents a number as the product of a single-digit number (x) and 10 raised to a power (y).

Converting 5,560,000,000 to scientific notation, we move the decimal point 9 places to the left, which gives us 5.56 * 10⁹ years.

Therefore, the estimated age of Pluto can be written as option (c) 5 * 10⁹ years.