A cube has side lengths of 25 cm long. If Sam has 16 of these cubes, what total volume would the cubes occupy written as a power of 2?
The total volume is 2____ cm3
The volume of one cube is calculated by taking the side length raised to the power of 3: 25 cm * 25 cm * 25 cm = 15625 cm^3.
Since Sam has 16 of these cubes, the total volume they occupy is 15625 cm^3 * 16 = 250,000 cm^3.
To write this total volume as a power of 2, we can find the largest power of 2 that is less than or equal to the total volume.
2^17 = 131,072 cm^3.
Therefore, the total volume the cubes occupy can be written as 2^17 cm^3.