Rank according to magnitude

H

hollypop1986

New member
Joined
Sep 3, 2013
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3
Okay, so I have worked this problem out, and I don't knoe what I'm missing!!!

Rank according to magnitude:

7.8*10^-6 (=.0000078)

9.0*10^-6 (=.000009)

3.5*10^-2 (= .035)

5.6*10^4 (=56000)

1.2*10^5 (= 120000)

So... I ordered them as follows:

1.2, 5.6, 3.5, 7.8, 9.0

But it counted the problem wrong! I don't understand... Please help!



Thanks!
 
Are you not clear on what "magnitude" means? It does NOT mean the "a" part of "a (10^b)" (that used to be called the "mantissa" back when you had to look up logarithms in tables). In fact, since all of these numbers are positive, the "magnitude" is really irrelevant (the "magnitude" of -5 is |-5|= 5, the magnitude of 7 is |7|= 7). Here you are really just asked to write these numbers in order of size.
 
Yeah, right, which is why I was confused. I didn't just enter the first part of the problem, I just put it that way to show the order I put them in, 1.2*10^5, 5.6*10^4, 3.5*10^-2, 7.8*10^-6, 9.0*10^-6. This way they are in order from greatest to least, but the computer still marked it wrong. Maybe it is a glitch or something. I was hoping I was just overlooking some detail or misunderstanding the use of "magnitude" here.
 
hollypop1986 said:
Yeah, right, which is why I was confused. I didn't just enter the first part of the problem, I just put it that way to show the order I put them in, 1.2*10^5, 5.6*10^4, 3.5*10^-2, 7.8*10^-6, 9.0*10^-6. This way they are in order from greatest to least, but the computer still marked it wrong. Maybe it is a glitch or something. I was hoping I was just overlooking some detail or misunderstanding the use of "magnitude" here.
Click to expand...

Order of those two should be reversed. So the answer should be

1.2*10^5, 5.6*10^4, 3.5*10^-2, 9.0*10^-6, 7.8*10^-6 (since 9.0 > 7.8)
 
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