Question

In 2010, the national debt of the United States was about 14 trillion dollars. In 2003 it was about 7 x 10 to the 12 dollars. About how many times larger was the national debt in 2010 than 2003? THIS IS SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

Answer 1

Okay. 10^12 is 1 trillion. 1 trillion * 7 is 7 trillion. 14 trillion / 7 trillion is 2. The national debt in 2010 is two times larger than in 2003. So that basically means that the national debt doubled from 2003 to 2010.

Answer 2

Answer: About 2 times.

Explanation:

Given : In 2010, the national debt of the United States was about 14 trillion dollars.

We know that 1 trillion
`=1,000,000,000,000= 10^(12)`

then, In 2010, the national debt of the United States was about
`14*10^(12)`

dollars.

In 2003 it was about
`7*10^(12)` dollars.

Now, the number of times the national debt was larger in 2010 than 2003 :-

`( 14*10^(12))/(7*10^(12))\\\\=(14)/(7)*10^(12-12)\\\\=2*10^0=2`

Hence, national debt was about 2 times larger in 2010 than 2003 .