Question

On the stock market four companies had a price change of 5/8, -0.25 -1/8 and 1.5 is the -1/8 the smallest price change of the four companies? Explain why or why not. Place the price changes in order from least to greatest. Show all your work.

Answer 1

Given:

Price change of four companies $\dfrac{5}{8},-0.25,-\dfrac{1}{8}\text{ and }1.5$.

To find:

Smallest price change of the four companies.

Solution:

We have price change of four companies as $\dfrac{5}{8},-0.25,-\dfrac{1}{8}\text{ and }1.5$.

Here negative sign represents the decrease in stock market price.

Price change can either positive or negative. So, we need to find the absolute value of each price change.

$\left|\dfrac{5}{8}\right|=0.625$

$|-0.25|=0.25$

$\left|-\dfrac{1}{8}\right|=0.125$

$|1.5|=1.5$

Arrange these values in increasing order.

$0.125$

Now,

Price changes in ascending order is

$-\dfrac{1}{8},-0.25,\dfrac{5}{8},\text{ and }1.5$

Hence, -1/8 the smallest price change of the four companies.