Question

A scientist collected a 1-liter sample of sea water and then examined it to see how many viruses, bacteria, phytoplankton, and protozoa it contained. The scientist found that there were 1\times 10^(9) bacteria and 1\times 10^(6) phytoplankton in the sample. How many times greater was the number of bacteria than the number of phytoplankton that were found in the sea water sample? Estimate by rounding to the nearest whole number.

Answer 1

The number of bacteria is 1000 times greater than the number of phytoplankton.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find how many times greater the number of bacteria is compared to the number of phytoplankton, we need to divide the number of bacteria by the number of phytoplankton.

The scientist found that there were 1 x 10^9 bacteria and 1 x 10^6 phytoplankton. Dividing the number of bacteria by the number of phytoplankton gives us:

1 x 10^9 / 1 x 10^6 = 1000 times

Therefore, the number of bacteria is 1000 times greater than the number of phytoplankton.