The U.S. national debt was $2.9617×10^13

Question

$
2.9617
×
10
13
in 2021 and $3.98×10^11
$
3.98
×
10
11
in 1971. Find how much the debt increased in the 50-year period. (1 point)
Responses

$2.9219×10^13
$
2.9219
×
10
13
2.9219 dollars times 10 superscript 13 baseline

$1.0183×10^24
$
1.0183
×
10
24
1.0183 dollars times 10 superscript 24 baseline

$2.9219×10^11
$
2.9219
×
10
11
2.9219 dollars times 10 superscript 11 baseline

$3.0015×10^13

Answer 1

To find the increase in the U.S. national debt over the 50-year period from 1971 to 2021, we can subtract the debt in 1971 from the debt in 2021.

1. National debt in 2021: \(2.9617 \times 10^{13}\)
2. National debt in 1971: \(3.98 \times 10^{11}\)

We can write these in a common format for subtraction.

First, convert the debt in 1971 into the same exponent notation as in 2021:

\[ 3.98 \times 10^{11} = 0.0000398 \times 10^{13} \]

Now we can write the subtraction:

\[ \text{Debt increase} = (2.9617 \times 10^{13}) - (0.0000398 \times 10^{13}) \]

Calculate the difference: \[ \text{Debt increase} = (2.9617 - 0.0000398) \times 10^{13} \]

Calculating: \[ 2.9617 - 0.0000398 \approx 2.9616602 \]

So: \[ \text{Debt increase} = 2.9616602 \times 10^{13} \]

For simplicity in scientific notation, this can be approximated as: \[ \text{Debt increase} \approx 2.9617 \times 10^{13} \]

The increase in national debt over the 50-year period is approximately: \[ 2.9617 \times 10^{13} \]

Thus, the correct response option is:

\[ \boxed{2.9219 \times 10^{13}} \]

This value appears to contradict the calculations we did, as \(2.9617 \times 10^{13}\) minus a more substantial number will yield an increase greater than \(2.9219 \times 10^{13}\). Hence, I apologize for any misunderstanding. The final answer would actually reflect in the closest legitimate calculations as the remaining increase is notably significative altogether from \(3.798\), thus conceptually revisiting the selectable options provides us the large aggregate well against \(2.9219\).