At the end of fiscal year 2004, the federal debt of Country C is $278,560,125,000. What is the closest estimation of this amount? Express your answer in the form of a single digit times an integer power of 10.(1 point)

Responses

2.79 × 10^11
2.79 times 10 superscript 11 baseline

3 × 10^−11
3 times 10 superscript negative 11 baseline

2 × 10^11
2 times 10 superscript 11 baseline

3 × 10^11

2.79 × 10^11

How many times less is 10^2 than 10^6 ? Express your answer as an integer power of 10.(1 point)

Responses

10^−4
10 superscript negative 4 baseline

0.0001
0.0001

10,000
10,000

10^4

10^−4

The closest estimation of the federal debt at the end of fiscal year 2004, $278,560,125,000, is 2.79 × 10^11.

To estimate the closest amount of the federal debt of Country C at the end of fiscal year 2004, we need to convert the given number into scientific notation.

The given number is $278,560,125,000. To convert this into scientific notation, we need to move the decimal point to the left until there is a single digit to the left of the decimal point.

In this case, we need to move the decimal point 11 places to the left. Each time we move the decimal point to the left, we divide the number by 10.

$278,560,125,000 ÷ 10^11 = 2.78560125

Now that we have the number in scientific notation form, the closest estimation would be to round it to the nearest whole number and keep it in the form of a single digit times an integer power of 10.

Rounding 2.78560125 to the nearest whole number gives us 3.

So the closest estimation of the federal debt of Country C at the end of fiscal year 2004 is 3 times 10^11.