Question

5. The highest recorded temperature in Alaska occurred in 1915 at
100°F. The highest recorded temperature in Indiana occurred in
1936 and was 16% higher than the highest temperature in
Alaska. What is the highest recorded temperature in Indiana?

Answer 1

Answer:

  116 °F

Step-by-step explanation:

We presume the temperature of interest is ...

  (100 °F)×(1 +16%) = 116 °F

The highest recorded temperature in Indiana was 116 °F.

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Comment on the question

Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit is reported using an interval scale, not a ratio scale. The notion of a percentage change in temperature measured by such a scale makes no mathematical sense.

Yes, you can perform percentage-like operations on the numbers (which is what we did here), but the idea that 116 °F is a 16% higher temperature than 100 °F is complete nonsense. For such ratios to be meaningful, an absolute temperature scale is needed, such as the Kelvin or Rankine scales.