Question

On the stock market four companies had a price change of 5/8, -0.25 -1/8 and 1.5 is the -1/8 the smallest price change of the four companies? Explain why or why not. Place the price changes in order from least to greatest. Show all your work.

Answer 1

Given:

Price change of four companies
`(5)/(8),-0.25,-(1)/(8)\text{ and }1.5`.

To find:

Smallest price change of the four companies.

Solution:

We have price change of four companies as
`(5)/(8),-0.25,-(1)/(8)\text{ and }1.5`.

Here negative sign represents the decrease in stock market price.

Price change can either positive or negative. So, we need to find the absolute value of each price change.

`\left|(5)/(8)\right|=0.625`

`|-0.25|=0.25`

`\left|-(1)/(8)\right|=0.125`

`|1.5|=1.5`

Arrange these values in increasing order.

`0.125<0.25<0.625<1.5`

Now,

Price changes in ascending order is

`-(1)/(8),-0.25,(5)/(8),\text{ and }1.5`

Hence, -1/8 the smallest price change of the four companies.