IM 8.7.15 Lesson: Adding and Subtracting with Scientific Notation
Mentally decide how many non-zero digits each number will have.
Diego, Kiran, and Clare were wondering: “If Neptune and Saturn were side by side, would they be wider than Jupiter?”
They try to add the diameters, km and km. Here are the ways they approached the problem. Diego says, “When we add the distances, we will get . The exponent will be 9. So the two planets are km side by side.” Do you agree with him? Explain your reasoning.
Kiran wrote as 47,000 and as 120,000 and added them: Do you agree with him? Explain your reasoning.
Clare says, “I think you can’t add unless they are the same power of 10.” She adds km and to get . Do you agree with her? Explain your reasoning.
Jupiter has a diameter of . Which is wider, Neptune and Saturn put side by side, or Jupiter?
When you add the distances of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars from the Sun, would you reach as far as Jupiter?
Draw a picture that is close to scale.
Add all the diameters of all the planets except the Sun. Which is wider, all of these objects side by side, or the Sun?
Use the table to answer questions about different life forms on the planet.
On a farm there was a cow. And on the farm there were 2 sheep. There were also 3 chickens. What is the total mass of the 1 cow, the 2 sheep, the 3 chickens, and the 1 farmer on the farm?
Make a conjecture about how many ants might be on the farm. If you added all these ants into the previous question, how would that affect your answer for the total mass of all the animals?
What is the total mass of a human, a blue whale, and 6 ants all together?
Which is greater, the number of bacteria, or the number of all the other animals in the table put together?
The emcee at a carnival is ready to give away a cash prize! The winning contestant could win anywhere from $1 to $100.
The emcee only has 7 envelopes and she wants to make sure she distributes the 100 $1 bills among the 7 envelopes so that no matter what the contestant wins, she can pay the winner with the envelopes without redistributing the bills. For example, it’s possible to divide 6 $1 bills among 3 envelopes to get any amount from $1 to $6 by putting $1 in the first envelope, $2 in the second envelope, and $3 in the third envelope (Go ahead and check. Can you make $4? $5? $6?). How should the emcee divide up the 100 $1 bills among the 7 envelopes so that she can give away any amount of money, from $1 to $100, just by handing out the right envelopes?