A human hair was measured to be 8.0×10−4 inch thick. A cat hair was measured to be 4.0×10−1 inch thick. How much greater is the thickness of the cat hair than the human hair? Write the answer in standard form
+23247 Human hair: 8.0 x 10-4 = 0.00080
Cat hair: 4.0 x 10-1 = 0.40
Subtracting: 0.40 - 0.00080 = 0.3992
Using rules of precision, the answer becomes 0.40
+118613 Geno's interpretation is valid but I interpreted it differently.
$$\\(4.0*10^{-1}) \div (8.0*10^{-4} )\\\\
=\frac{(4.0*10^{-1}) }{ (8.0*10^{-4} )}\\\\
=\frac{4}{ 8}*\frac{10^{-1} }{ 10^{-4} }\\\\
=\frac{1}{ 2}*10^{-1--4} \\\\
=0.5*10^{3} \\\\
=500 \\\\$$
The cat hair is 500 times thicker than the human hair :)
That sounds like an awful lot - That cat sure have fat hairs!
