Question

the area of North Carolina is about 5.3 x 10 to the 4th square miles. The area of Rhode Island the smallest state is about 1.3 x 10 to the third square miles. Approximately how many times greater is the area of North Carolina as compared to the area of Rhode Island?

Answer 1

The area of North Carolina is given by:

`NC\text{ = 5}\cdot10^4miles^2`

While the area of Rhode Island is:

`RI\text{ = 1.3}\cdot10^3miles^2`

We need to find how many times the area of North Carolina is bigger than the area of Rhoad Island. To do that we will have to divide the area from North Carolina by the area of Rhode Island. When dividing numbers in scientific notation, we need to divide the numbers and subtract the powers as shown below:

`\begin{gathered} \text{ratio = }(5\cdot10^4)/(1.3\cdot10^3)\text{ } \\ \text{ratio = }3.85\cdot10^(4-3) \\ \text{ratio = 3.85}\cdot10 \\ \text{ratio = 38.5} \end{gathered}`

The area of North Carolina is 38.5 times greater than the area of Rhoad Island.