Answer:
4.372×10^13
Step-by-step explanation: The question is asking "How much more does this one thing weigh than this other thing?" Like how much more does my cat weigh than this bowling ball? Just that, the things are really, really, really BIG! But, we're just going to subtract the two numbers, that's all. So, unfortunately, they are asking you to "show work" bc literally, you could punch these two numbers into a calculator and hit enter. But, let's see how we can "show work"!
The iceberg is the bigger number because of the exponent 13.
4.55×10^13 is
45500000000000.
That's a mess to work with but thought you might want to know/see it.
The Rock is 1.78×10^12 which is
1780000000000.
Again, not easy to work with, but there it is.
(4.55×10^13) - (1.78×10^12)
Change both to 10^13.
(4.55×10^13)-(.178×10^13)
factor out the 10^13.
10^13(4.55 - 1.78)
subtract.
10^13(4.372)
write in scientific notation.
4.372 × 10^13
You could subtract those two crazy long numbers with all the zeros. And then convert to scientific notation. It will come out the same.