Questions: Question 15, P2. 119 As of January 2016, the national debt of a certain country was 18.8 trillion. a. Express 18.8 trillion in scientific notation. b. Four years of tuition, fees, and room and board at a public college cost approximately 80,000. Express this number in scientific notation. c. Use your answers from parts (a) and (b) to determine how many citizens could receive a free college education for 18.8 trillion. a. 18.8 trillion = 1.88 x 10^13 b. 80,000 = (Use scientific notation. Use the multiplication symbol in the math palette as needed.)

Solution Steps

To express the numbers in scientific notation, we first identify the coefficient and the exponent for each number. For the first number, \(N_1 = 18800000000000\), it is expressed as \(a_1 \times 10^{n_1} = 1.88 \times 10^{n1}\). Similarly, for the second number, \(N_2 = 80000\), it is expressed as \(a_2 \times 10^{n_2} = 8 \times 10^{n2}\).

To find out how many units of \(N_2\) can be covered by \(N_1\), we divide the scientific notation expressions of \(N_1\) by \(N_2\). This gives us a result of \(\frac{a_1}{a_2} \times 10^{n_1-n_2} = 0.235 \times 10^{n_result}\).

The result of the division, when expressed in scientific notation and rounded to 0 decimal places, is approximately \( 235000000 \).

Final Answer: