Bob told his parents that a man once sat on a pole for nearly 3.8 × 10 seconds to protest the price of gasoline. What would be the most appropriate unit of time for Bob to use instead of seconds?
The most appropriate unit of time for Bob to use instead of seconds would be hours.
To determine the most appropriate unit of time for Bob to use instead of seconds, we need to consider the magnitude of the time duration mentioned.
Given that the man sat on the pole for nearly 3.8 × 10 seconds, we can rewrite this value in scientific notation as 3.8 × 10^1 seconds. By using scientific notation, we can easily identify the exponent of the base unit.
To find a more suitable unit of time, we can convert the given time duration to a unit that would best match its magnitude. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to find the appropriate unit:
1. Start by identifying the magnitude of the time duration. In this case, the magnitude is between 10 and 100 (3.8 × 10^1).
2. Determine the appropriate unit that fits the magnitude:
- If the magnitude is within the range of seconds (10^0), we can continue using seconds.
- If the magnitude is larger, we can move to minutes (10^1).
- If the magnitude is even larger, we can move to hours (10^2).
- The pattern continues with days (10^3), weeks (10^4), months (10^5), and so on.
In this case, the magnitude of 3.8 × 10^1 lies between seconds and minutes. Therefore, the most appropriate unit for Bob to use instead of seconds would be minutes.
So, Bob should say that the man sat on the pole for nearly 3.8 × 10 minutes to protest the price of gasoline.