Question

The total number of students who have attended Lacey's high school since it first opened is about 4 × 10⁴ students. The total number of students who have attended Monique's high school since it first opened is about 3 × 10⁵ students. Which school has a greater number of students who have attended? Show your work. Explain your reasoning.

Answer 1

To compare these two numbers, we can write them both in scientific notation and compare their exponents. We have:

4 × 10⁴ students 3 × 10⁵ students

The exponent in the second number is greater, so Monique's high school has had a greater number of students attend it.

Alternatively, we could also convert both numbers to the same base (such as base 10) and compare the coefficients. For example, we could convert the first number to 4,000 students and the second number to 300,000 students, which would also show that Monique's high school has had more students attend it.