The distance to the moon is 250,000 miles. Calculate the distance in kilometers.
250,000mi x 1.61km/1mi =402,500 km
But the correct answer is supposed to be 408,500km. Why am I 6000 short?
To convert the distance from miles to kilometers, you correctly used the conversion factor of 1.61 kilometers per mile. However, it seems that the discrepancy in the answer is not due to your conversion calculation. Instead, it could be caused by a rounding error.
When converting 250,000 miles to kilometers using the conversion factor 1.61 km/1 mi, the exact value is 402,500 kilometers. However, if you round this number to the nearest whole number, it would be 402,000 kilometers, which is 6000 kilometers less than the correct answer.
Keep in mind that in scientific calculations, it is generally better to preserve more decimal places until the final result to minimize rounding errors. If you calculate the conversion without rounding during intermediate steps, you are more likely to achieve a more accurate final result.