To calculate the area needed for all the people on Earth to stand side by side, we can follow these steps:
Step 1: Convert the number of people to square feet.
Since each person needs 4 square feet to stand, we need to multiply the number of people by 4. In this case, with 6 billion people, the total square footage required would be:
6 billion people × 4 square feet/person = 24 billion square feet
Step 2: Convert square feet to square miles.
To compare the required area with Rhode Island's area, we need to convert square feet to square miles because Rhode Island's land area is given in square miles. There are 5,280 feet in a mile, and since area is calculated by multiplying lengths together, we square this value:
(5,280 feet)² = 27,878,400 square feet in a square mile
Therefore, the total square footage can be converted to square miles by dividing by this value:
24 billion square feet / 27,878,400 square feet/mile = Approximately 860 square miles
So, if we assume that all 6 billion people on Earth stand side by side, we would need approximately 860 square miles to accommodate them.
Whether all the people on Earth would fit in Rhode Island depends on the actual land area of Rhode Island. Given that Rhode Island has a land area of 1,000 square miles, it is not large enough to fit all the people.