Question

In 2005, the total waste generated in a certain country was 8.618 x 10^8 pounds. Also in 2005, the country's population was 2.76 x 10 ^5 people. Determine the garbage per capita (per person) in that

country in the year 2005.

(use scientific notation to answer this question)

Answer 1

To determine the garbage per capita, we need to divide the total waste generated by the population. In 2005, the total waste generated was 8.618 x 10^8 pounds and the population was 2.76 x 10^5 people, so the garbage per capita in that country in 2005 was 3.12 pounds per person. This can be calculated as follows:

8.618 x 10^8 pounds / 2.76 x 10^5 people = 3.12 pounds/person

Alternatively, we can rewrite the population in scientific notation to make the calculation easier:

8.618 x 10^8 pounds / (2.76 x 10^5) people = 8.618 x 10^8 pounds / (2.76 x 10^3 x 10^2) people

Now we can cancel out the common factors of 10^2 from the numerator and denominator to get the final result:

8.618 x 10^8 pounds / (2.76 x 10^3 x 10^2) people = 8.618 x 10^8 pounds / (2.76 x 10^3) people

= 8.618 x 10^5 pounds / (2.76) people

= 3.12 pounds/person

This shows that in 2005, the garbage per capita in that country was 3.12 pounds per person.