Read this word problem.

New Orleans is 2 meters below sea level. Baton Rouge is 17 meters above sea level. How much higher is Baton Rouge than New Orleans?
To solve the problem, Tess subtracted 2–17 and came up with an answer of

15 meters. Is Tess correct? Why or why not?

1 answer

To determine how much higher Baton Rouge is than New Orleans, we need to consider their elevations relative to sea level.

  1. Elevation of New Orleans: -2 meters (2 meters below sea level)
  2. Elevation of Baton Rouge: +17 meters (17 meters above sea level)

To find out how much higher Baton Rouge is than New Orleans, we can think of the difference in their elevations. The calculation should be:

\[ \text{Difference} = \text{Elevation of Baton Rouge} - \text{Elevation of New Orleans} \] \[ \text{Difference} = 17 - (-2) \] This can be simplified to:

\[ \text{Difference} = 17 + 2 = 19 \]

Baton Rouge is 19 meters higher than New Orleans.

Now, let's analyze Tess's calculation. Tess subtracted \(2 - 17\) which is incorrect because she used the elevations in the wrong order and did not take into account that New Orleans is below sea level (which contributes a negative value). Her subtraction \(2 - 17\) yields \(-15\), which does not correctly reflect the heights.

Thus, Tess is not correct. Baton Rouge is actually 19 meters higher than New Orleans, not -15 meters.