Adding and Subtracting Scientific Notation Word Problems
1) In 2006, about 1.9 x 107 people visited Blue Ridge Parkway. That same year, about 9.3 x 106
people visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park. How many more people visited Blue
Ridge Parkway than Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2006? What operation will be
used to solve this problem?
2) In 2006, the US had a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 1.313 x 1013. The United Kingdom
had a GDP of 1.93 x 1012. What were the combined GDPs of the US and the UK in 2006? What
operation will be used to solve this problem?
3) In 2006, China had 1.311 x108 internet users. That same year, Japan had 9.09 x 107 internet
users. How many internet users did the two countries have combined? What operation will be
used to solve this problem?
4) The average distance from Earth to the Sun is 1.46 x 108 kilometers. The average distance
from Earth to the Moon is 3.84 x 105 kilometers. About many more times as great is the distance
from Earth to the Sun than to the Moon? What operation will be used to solve this problem?
5) About 8.73 x 108 people in the world speak Chinese. About 3.22 x 108 speak Spanish. In
scientific notation, how many more people speak Chinese than Spanish? What operation will
be used to solve this problem?
6) The following incomes are recorded for music artists in 2010.
Artist
2010 Income
Jay-Z
2.56 X 107
Yo Gotti
5.1 X 106
How much more money did Jay-Z make over Yo Gotti? What operation will be used to solve
this problem?
7) Great Lake Superior covers an area of 3.17 x 104 square miles. The smallest Great Lake,
Ontario, covers an area of 7.34 x 103 square miles. About how many times as great is the area
covered by Lake Superior than Lake Ontario? What operation will be used to solve this
problem?
8) The distance between Memphis and Sand Francisco is 1.2 x 103 miles. The distance between
Memphis and Nashville is 2.5 x 102. How much further is San Francisco than Nashville from
Memphis? What operation will be used to solve this problem?
Show your work or explain, leave your answers in scientific notation.
1) A flight from Singapore to New York includes a stopover in Hawaii. The distance between
Singapore and Hawaii is about 6.7  10 3 miles. The distance between New York and Hawaii
is about 4.9  10 3 miles.
a) Find the total distance from Singapore to New York.
b) How much farther is the first half of the trip compared to the second half of the trip?
2) The table shows the weights of some animals.
Animal
Average weights in lbs
African Bush Elephant
2.7  10 4
Hippopotamus
9.0  10 3
Walrus
4.5  10 3
a) How much greater is the average weight of an African Bush Elephant than the average
weight of a Hippopotamus?
b) What is the total weight of all animals?
3) Factories A and B produced potato chips. Last year, each factory reported the amount of each
ingredient. Factory A reported their amounts in scientific notation and Factory B reported
their amounts in standard form.
Ingredient Factory A (amount used in lbs) Factory B (amount used in lbs)
Potato
4.87  10 6
3,309,000
Oil
5.61  10 5
356,000
Salt
2.87  10 5
193,500
a) Which factory used more oil last year? By how much?
b) What is the total amount of salt used by both factories?
c) What is the total weight of all of the ingredients in Factory A?
4) The Earth’s surface that is covered by water is 3.61 x 108, compared to the amount of Earth’s
surface that is covered by land which is 1.49 x 108, approximately how many times greater is
the amount of the Earth’s surface covered by water, compared to the surface covered by land?
Do Now:
1. (3.5 x 104) + (2.76 x 105)
2. (7.34 x 1015) – (4.67 x 1014)
3. Which numbers are NOT written in Scientific Notation? Change to scientific notation.
a)
2.567×10–2
4.
b)
67×102
c)
d)
15.5×10-4
3×10–10
e)
0.004x10-5
Order the following numbers from least to greatest.
3.75 x 108
37,500,000
3.57 x 109
5.37 x 107
Example 3: One cell has a diameter of 4.5 x 10-6. If there are 20 cells growing in a lab, what are
their combined diameters? What operation will be used to solve this problem?
Example 9: The largest planet in our solar system is Jupiter with a diameter of about 1.43 x 105
kilometers. The smallest planet in our solar system is Mercury with a diameter of about 4.9 x
103 kilometers. About how many times greater is the diameter of Jupiter than the diameter of
Mercury? What operation will be used to solve this problem?