Choose the yearly rainfall averages in scientific notation.

Question

Location Amount of Rainfall Scientific Notation, in meters
Needles, California 0.1173 m

Mt. Waialeale, Hawai'i 11.4 m

Puako, Hawai’i 25.6 cm

Death Valley, California 57 mm

Mojave, California 160 mm

Hilo, Hawai'i 480 cm

Use the table to locate the location with the least amount of rain and the location with the greatest amount of rain. What is the ratio of their rainfalls, respectively?

Ratio =

The amount of rain on Mt. Waialeale is(20, 0.5, 200, 0.005) times as much as the amount of rain in (Death valley, Hilo, Mt.Waialeale, Needles, Puako

 

Im consfused on how to find the ratio

Answer 1

First, let's convert all of the measurements to the same units, namely millimeters. We know that there are 10 millimeters to the centimeter, and 1000 millimeters to the meter.

 

Needles, California 0.1173m x 1000mm/m = 117.3mm

Mt. Waialeale, Hawai'i 11.4m x 1000mm/m= 11,400mm

Puako, Hawai’i 25.6cm x 10mm/cm = 256mm

Death Valley, California 57mm

Mojave, California 160mm

Hilo, Hawai'i 480cm x 10mm/cm = 4,800mm

 

We see that Death Valley gets the least rain at 57mm.

 

Second, to figure the ratios, we select one value and use it to divide into the other values. So, the Death Valley value is 57mm, which we divide into the value for Needles to get 117.3/57 = 2.06. So, Needles receives 2.06 times as much rain as does Death Valley. The ratio is then 1 (57mm/57mm) to 2.06 (117.3mm/57mm).

 

To obtain the other ratios, just continue in the same way.