Detailed Solutions to Practice #9

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Item 1: Japan's GDP is approximately how many times bigger than Italy's?

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To answer this question we must first estimate both Japan's and Italy's GDP. To do this, observe how high the corresponding bars rise, and scan across to the frequency axis, labeled "GDP (in Trillions of dollars)." If we do this we find: Japan's GDP is approximately 4 trillion dollars. Italy's GDP is approximately 1 trillion dollars. So Japan's GDP is approximately 4 times larger than Italy's. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Selected Nations (in trillions of dollars)

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Selected Nations (in trillions of dollars)  (Source: International Monetary Fund Data)

Item 2: How does Germany's GDP compare to China's and Italy's combined GDP?

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Here we must estimate the GDP of three countries: Germany, China, and Italy. A careful estimation will obtain a GDP of:

• Approximately 1.8 for Germany
• Approximately 0.6 for China
• Approximately 0.9 for Italy.

Keeping in mind we are comparing the GDP of Germany to the combined GDP of China and Italy, the ratio we need to use is:

From this we can see that the GDP of Germany is slightly larger than the combined GDP of China and Italy.

Item 3: Estimate to the nearest tenth, Japan's GDP.

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Again, to estimate the GDP of a nation, find its corresponding bar, and scan across to the scaled axis to estimate the amount that the bar represents. If we scan across to the scaled axis for Japan we find its height to be approximately 4.2 (trillion dollars). NOTE: If your answer was either 4.1 or 4.3, you had the right idea. If your answer did not fall in that range, be sure you use the correct bar, then be careful when scanning across to the scaled axis.

Item 4: Approximately how much bigger, in trillions of dollars, is Japan's GDP than China's GDP?

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First, carefully estimate the GDP of both Japan and China. When we do this we find:

• China's GDP is about 0.6
• Japan's is about 4.2.

To find how much bigger Japan's GDP is, we simply subtract the GDP of China from the GDP of Japan.

REMEMBER: You should review material in this unit and then try the additional practice.

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