The U.S. national debt was $2.9617x10^13 in 2021 and $3.98x10^11 in 1971. Find out how much the debt increased in the 50-year period.
Responses
1.0183x10^24
3.0015x10^13
2.9219x10^13
2.9219x10^11
To find out how much the debt increased in the 50-year period, we can subtract the national debt in 1971 from the national debt in 2021:
$2.9617x10^13 - $3.98x10^11 = $2.9219x10^13.
Therefore, the debt increased by $2.9219x10^13 in the 50-year period.
To find out how much the debt increased in the 50-year period, we subtract the debt in 1971 from the debt in 2021.
Debt increase = Debt in 2021 - Debt in 1971
Debt increase = ($2.9617x10^13) - ($3.98x10^11)
Debt increase = $2.9617x10^13 - $3.98x10^11
Debt increase = $2.9617x10^13 - $0.398x10^13
Debt increase = $2.5637x10^13
Therefore, the debt increased by $2.5637x10^13 in the 50-year period.
To find out how much the U.S. national debt increased in the 50-year period, we subtract the debt in 1971 from the debt in 2021.
The U.S. national debt in 2021 is given as $2.9617 x 10^13.
The U.S. national debt in 1971 is given as $3.98 x 10^11.
To subtract these two numbers, we compare their powers of 10:
- The power of 10 in $2.9617 x 10^13 is 13.
- The power of 10 in $3.98 x 10^11 is 11.
Since the power of 10 is different, we need to make them the same by converting one of the numbers. To do this, we move the decimal point in $3.98 x 10^11 by two places to the right. This becomes $3.98 x 10^13.
Now that the powers of 10 are the same, we can subtract the debt in 1971 from the debt in 2021:
($2.9617 x 10^13) - ($3.98 x 10^13) = $2.9617 x 10^13 - $3.98 x 10^13 = -$1.0183 x 10^13
The national debt decreased instead of increased, which means none of the provided answer options are correct.