Thousands of runners come to the Boston Marathon to run in its famous event each year. The Boston Marathon course is 46,145 yards long. What is the best estimate of the length of the course in feet?

Question

A 5.5 * 10^5
B 1.66 * 10^7
C 1.38 * 10^5
D 1.78 * 10^5

Answer 1

To estimate the length of the Boston Marathon course in feet, we need to convert yards to feet. There are 3 feet in one yard.

The course is 46,145 yards long. To convert this to feet, we multiply by 3:

\[ 46,145 \text{ yards} \times 3 \text{ feet/yard} = 138,435 \text{ feet} \]

Now we can express this in scientific notation:

\[ 138,435 = 1.38435 \times 10^5 \]

For estimation purposes, we can round this to \( 1.38 \times 10^5 \).

Looking at the options provided, the best estimate of the length of the course in feet is:

C: \( 1.38 \times 10^5 \).