Desi is looking at his calculator, which is shaped like a rectangular prism, and estimates it is about 3 in. wide, 4 in. tall, and 12 in. thick. he wonders how many of these calculators he could fit in the trunk of his car, which is also roughly shaped like a rectangular prism, 4 ft wide, 3 ft deep, and 2 ft tall. his reasoning, shown here, contains an error.
the calculator has a volume of about 60 in³, or about 6×101 in³.
the trunk of his car has a volume of about 41,472 in³, or about 4×104 in³.
4×1046×101=23×103 , so 667 calculators would fit in the trunk of his car.
what is desi's error?
the value 41,472 should have been rounded to 4×105 .
the volume of the car's trunk is not about 41,472 in³.
the value 60 should have been rounded to 6×100 .
the volume of the calculator is not about 60 in³.