To find out how much closer Mars is to the sun than Neptune, we need to subtract the distance from the sun to Mars from the distance from the sun to Neptune.
Given:
- Distance from the sun to Neptune: \( 4.5 \times 10^9 \) kilometers
- Distance from the sun to Mars: \( 2.28 \times 10^8 \) kilometers
First, we can align the distances for easier calculation. To subtract these numbers, it may be helpful to express them with the same exponent:
- Convert the distance from Mars to have the same exponent as Neptune: \[ 2.28 \times 10^8 = 0.228 \times 10^9 \]
Now we can perform the subtraction: \[ 4.5 \times 10^9 - 0.228 \times 10^9 = (4.5 - 0.228) \times 10^9 \] Calculating \( 4.5 - 0.228 \): \[ 4.5 - 0.228 = 4.272 \] Now, we express the result as: \[ 4.272 \times 10^9 \text{ kilometers} \]
Thus, the distance Mars is closer to the sun than Neptune is approximately: \[ \boxed{4.272 \times 10^9} \text{ kilometers} \]