The population of australia is 2.1510⁷ The area of Australia is 2.9510⁶ square miles. What is the approximate average number of people per square mile in Australia?

Question

asked Oct 5, 2023 226k views

1 Answer

Stijn Janssen · Answer 1 · 2023-10-08T21:46:04+0000

We are given the population of Australia and its area. To calculate the number of people per square mile we simply divide as follows

$\frac{\text{population}}{\text{area}}=(2.15\cdot10^7)/(2.95\cdot10^(6))=(2.15)/(2.95)\cdot(10^(7))/(10^(6))$

To calculate this number, first we use the following property

So

Then, we have

$(2.15\cdot10^7)/(2.95\cdot10^(6))=(2.15)/(2.95)\cdot10$

Note that 2.15 = 215/100 and 2.95=295/100. So we have

$(2.15)/(2.95)\cdot10=((215)/(100))/((295)/(100))\cdot10$

Using the property

$((a)/(b))/((c)/(d))=(a\cdot d)/(b\cdot c)$

we get

$((215)/(100))/((295)/(100))\cdot10=(215\cdot100)/(295\cdot100)\cdot10=(215)/(295)\cdot10=(43\cdot5)/(59\cdot5)\cdot10=(43)/(59)\cdot10$

Using a calculator we get

$(43)/(59)\cdot10\approx7.28$

so the approximate average number of people per square mile in Australia is 7.28 people per square mile