Question

light travels 1.18 x 10^10 inches in 1 second. About how far will light travel in 1 minute? Use scientific notation.​

Answer 1

Answer: $4.248*10^{13}\ seconds$

Step-by-step explanation:

We must remember that, by definition, Scientific notation has the following form:

$a*10^b$

Where $1\leq |a|$ and "b" is an integer.

Let be "x" the distance light will  travel in 1 minute.

According to the information provided in the exercise, the light travels $1.18 * 10^{10}\ inches$ per second.

We know that:

 $1\ minute=3,600\ seconds$

To write this in Scientific notation, move the decimal point three places to the left:

$3.6*10^3\ seconds$

Then, we can set up the following proportion:

$\frac{1.18 * 10^{10}}{1}=\frac{x}{3.6*10^3}$

Solve for "x" (We must remember the Product of powers property: $a^m*a^n=a^{mn}$):

$(3.6*10^3)(\frac{1.18 * 10^{10}}{1})=x\\\\x=4.248*10^{13}\ seconds$