HOW DO YOU SOLVE THIS MATH WORD PROBLEM?

Question

An oil drum containing 200 liters of oil falls to the bottom of a lake and begins leaking. All of the oil leaks out and forms a thin film, 1 micron (10to the negative sixth meters) thick, on the surface of the water. What is the area of the oil slick in km 2? ( One liter is equivalent to 0.001m3). The correct answer is 0.2.

Jeff Aaron · Answer

200 litres: divide by 1000 to get 0.2 m^3
Divide by 10^(-6) metres (which is 0.000001 m) to get 200,000 m^2
Divide by 1000^3 (which is 1,000,000) to get 0.2 km^2

HOW DO YOU SOLVE THIS MATH WORD PROBLEM?

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