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?

Question

To solve the problem, Tess subtracted 2–17 and came up with an answer of –
15 meters. Is Tess correct? Why or why not?

Answer 1

To find out how much higher Baton Rouge is than New Orleans, we can set up the calculation as follows:

1. New Orleans is at -2 meters (2 meters below sea level).
2. Baton Rouge is at +17 meters (17 meters above sea level).

To find the difference in elevation between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, we can calculate:

Difference = Elevation of Baton Rouge - Elevation of New Orleans

This translates to:

Difference = 17 - (-2)

Subtracting a negative is the same as adding, so this becomes:

Difference = 17 + 2 = 19 meters

So, Baton Rouge is 19 meters higher than New Orleans.

Tess made an error when she subtracted 2 - 17, which would equal -15 meters. This calculation incorrectly interpreted the situation because it does not account for the fact that New Orleans is below sea level (a negative value) while Baton Rouge is above sea level (a positive value).

So, Tess is not correct. The correct answer is that Baton Rouge is 19 meters higher than New Orleans.