To write a number as a single digit times a power of 10, first count its number of zeros.
21 times
Practice makes perfect
Here we have the amount of water that the tanks at the Georgia Aquarium and the Audubon Aquarium can hold.
Georgia Aquarium (gallons)
Audubon Aquarium (gallons)
8.4 * 10^6
400 000
This is what we want to do:
Estimate how much water the tanks can hold at the Audubon Aquarium.
Compare the capacities at both aquariums.
Let's do it!
Capacity of the Tank
We are given an approximation of the amount of water the tanks at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas can hold. We want to write the number as a single digit times a power of 10.
400 000
For that, we will rewrite the number as its greatest place value times a power of 10. To find the exponent, we need to count the zeros in the number.
4
We see that there are 5 zeros. Now, recall how the sign of the exponent changes for different numbers.
Numbers Greater Than 1
Numbers Less Than 1
positive (+)
negative (-)
Since the number 400 000 is greater than 1, the exponent is positive. This means that the exponent of 10 is 5. We now have everything we need to rewrite our number.
400 000 = 4 * 10^5
The capacity of the tanks at Audubon Aquarium of the Americas is 4* 10^5 gallons.
Comparing the Capacities
We are asked to find about how many times greater the amount of water at the Georgia Aquarium is than at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas.
Georgia Aquarium (gallons)
Audubon Aquarium (gallons)
8.4 * 10^6
4* 10^5
To do this, we divide the capacity of the tanks at the Georgia Aquarium by the capacity of the tanks at the Audubon Aquarium. Let's do it!
