Question

A certain aircraft carrier has enough food and supplies to serve 1,633,500 meals over a period of 90 days. Which of the following is a reasonable estimate for the number of meals served over a period of 90 days on this aircraft carrier? PLEASE HELP

Answer 1

The most reasonable estimate for 90 days is B. 2 × $10^{6}$ meals.

Explanation:

• The aircraft carrier can serve 1,633,500 meals over a period of 90 days.

• The given values are A. 2 ×$10^{7}$, B.2 × $10^{6}$, C.2 × $10^{-7}$, D.2 × $10^{-6}$. All the given values are in the range of 2 so it will only logical if we round off the value we have too. We round off 1,633,500 to 2,000,000.

• Suppose you multiply 2 with 100 you get 100, 2 multiplied with 100 is represented by 2 × $10^{2}$ so the power to which 10 is raised represents the number of zeros in the resulting value i.e. 10 is raised to the power of 2 so the resulting answer has 2 zeroes.

• Options C and D have negative powers so they will equal decimal values so only options A and B could be the answer. Since there are 6 zeroes in 2,000,000 which is equal to 2 × $10^{6}$. So the answer is option B.