Question

A city has two water towers. One tower holds 7.35*10^5 gallons of water. The other holds 9.78*10^5 gallons of water. What is the combined water capacity in Scientific Notation?

7.1883*10^26
1.713*10^6
7.1883*10^11
2.43*10^5

Answer 1

To find the combined water capacity of the two water towers, we need to add the capacities of both towers together:

1. The first tower holds \(7.35 \times 10^5\) gallons.
2. The second tower holds \(9.78 \times 10^5\) gallons.

Now we add these two values together:

\[
(7.35 \times 10^5) + (9.78 \times 10^5)
\]

Since both numbers have the same exponent (which is \(10^5\)), we can simply add the coefficients:

\[
7.35 + 9.78 = 17.13
\]

Thus:

\[
17.13 \times 10^5
\]

Now we need to express \(17.13 \times 10^5\) in proper scientific notation. Scientific notation requires that the coefficient be between 1 and 10. We can rewrite \(17.13\) as:

\[
1.713 \times 10^1
\]

Now multiplying it with \(10^5\):

\[
1.713 \times 10^1 \times 10^5 = 1.713 \times 10^{1+5} = 1.713 \times 10^6
\]

Thus, the combined water capacity of the two towers in scientific notation is:

\[
\boxed{1.713 \times 10^6}
\]