Earth's radius is approximately 3,959 miles, while Jupiter's radius is approximately 4.3441 x 10⁴ miles. How much bigger is Jupiter's radius compared to Earth's? Express your answer in scientific notation. Do not round your answer (1 point)

x miles

1 answer

To compare the radius of Jupiter to the radius of Earth, we first need to calculate how much bigger Jupiter's radius is compared to Earth's radius.

  1. Radius of Earth: \( R_E = 3,959 \) miles
  2. Radius of Jupiter: \( R_J = 4.3441 \times 10^4 \) miles

Next, we need to find the difference between Jupiter's radius and Earth's radius:

\[ R_J - R_E = (4.3441 \times 10^4) - (3,959) \]

Before we perform the subtraction, let's express \( R_E \) in scientific notation:

\[ R_E = 3,959 = 3.959 \times 10^3 \]

Now we can perform the subtraction. To do this accurately, we need to convert \( R_E \) to a scale of millions or thousands that aligns with \( R_J \):

Finding a common format, we can convert \( R_E \) to:

\[ R_E = 3.959 \times 10^3 = 0.03959 \times 10^5 \]

Thus,

\[ R_J - R_E = (4.3441 \times 10^4) - (0.03959 \times 10^5) \]

Since \( 0.03959 \times 10^5 \) is equivalent to \( 3.959 \times 10^3 \):

\[ = (4.3441 \times 10^4) - (3.959 \times 10^3) \] \[ = (4.3441 \times 10^4) - (0.3959 \times 10^4) \] \[ = (4.3441 - 0.3959) \times 10^4 \] \[ = 3.9482 \times 10^4 \]

Now, we find that Jupiter's radius is larger than Earth's radius by:

\[ 3.9482 \times 10^4 \text{ miles} \]

Therefore, the answer is:

\[ \boxed{3.9482 \times 10^4} \text{ miles} \]