Language, notation and formulas

# A billions problem

First write out a full solution to the following problem.

## Example 16: Billions

You may think that you know what the word billion means but do you really have a feel for its size?

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(a) Write down one billion as a power of 10. | [3]
(b) Consider how far a billion centimetres (cm) is. Determine what one billion cm is in kilometres (km). How does it compare with the distance between Saturn and the Sun, which is 1427000 000 km? | [5]
(c) Now consider one billion seconds. Determine how long this is in years (round your answer to the nearest whole number). | [7]
(d) Finally, if there are 4 980 000 grains in 1 kilogram (kg) of sugar, show that one billion grains of sugar are approximately equivalent to 2 × 102 kg of sugar. | [5]

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