Question

The distance of planet Mercury from the Sun is approximately 5.8 ⋅ 10^7 kilometers, and the distance of planet Venus from the Sun is 1.1 ⋅ 10^8 kilometers. About how many more kilometers is the distance of Venus from the Sun than the distance of Mercury from the Sun?

A 5.2 ⋅ 107 kilometers
B 4.7 ⋅ 108 kilometers
C 5.2 ⋅ 108 kilometers
D 5.7 ⋅ 109 kilometers

Answer 1

distance(Mercury, Sun) = 5.8 x 10^7
distance(Venus, Sun) = 1.1 x 10^8

distance(Venus, Mars) = 1.1 x 10^8 - 5.8 x 10^7

The subtraction is a little easier if you borrow a power of 10 from the 10^8, multiplying 1.1 by 10.

$\rm 11.0\times10^7-5.8\times10^7$

simply subtract 5.8 from 11.0.
This gives us a result of 5.2 x 10^7.

Hope that makes sense!

Answer 2

The answer is 5.2 times 10^7
hope this helped