Question

In 2010, the national debt of the United States was about 14 trillion dollars. In 2003 it was about 7 x 10 to the 12 dollars. About how many times larger was the national debt in 2010 than 2003? THIS IS SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

Answer 1

Okay. 10^12 is 1 trillion. 1 trillion * 7 is 7 trillion. 14 trillion / 7 trillion is 2. The national debt in 2010 is two times larger than in 2003. So that basically means that the national debt doubled from 2003 to 2010.

Answer 2

Answer:  About 2 times.

Step-by-step explanation:

Given : In 2010, the national debt of the United States was about 14 trillion dollars.

We know that 1 trillion $=1,000,000,000,000= 10^{12}$

then, In 2010, the national debt of the United States was about $14\times10^{12}$

dollars.

In 2003 it was about $7\times10^{12}$ dollars.

Now, the number of times the national debt was larger in 2010 than 2003 :-

$\dfrac{ 14\times10^{12}}{7\times10^{12}}\\\\=\dfrac{14}{7}\times10^{12-12}\\\\=2\times10^0=2$

Hence, national debt was about 2 times larger in 2010 than 2003 .