Question

The mass of Venus is about `4.871times10^21` metric tons. The mass of the sun is about `1.998times20^27` metric tons. About how many times the mass of Venus is the mass of the sun and give your answer in scientific notation?

Answer 1

The mass of the Sun is approximately `4.102xx10^5` times that of Venus

Explanation:

Let the mas of Venus be `v`
Let the mass of the Sun be `s`

Let the constant of comparison be `k`

The question states:

How many times the mass of Venus `->vxxk=`
is the mass of the Sun`color(white)("ddddddddd.d")->vxxk=s`

`=> 4.871xx10^21xxk=1.998xx20^(27)`

`k=(1.998xx20^27)/(4.871xx10^21)`

Important point: The question uses the word 'about' so they are looking for solution that is not precise. Also they do not state the degree of precision to be applied.

`k=0.4101827.... xx10^6`

Write as:

`k=4.101827...xx10^5`

The question presents values to 3 decimal places so we should be quite safe to use the same degree of precision.

State k as `k=4.102xx10^5` Approximately