Question

According to Star Trek Warp 8 is 8 times the speed of light. If the star ship can travel at Warp 8, how many miles can it travel in a year?

Answer 1

Haven't I already answered this question for you? Or was it someone else?
Is this the first time you are posting this question?

Answer 2

Maybe someone else? I think I need to multiply the distance light can travel in a year, 5.89x10^12 by warp 8 (8), so (5.89x10^12)(8x10^0)=47.12x10^12. Is that correct?

Answer 3

how did you find out the distance traveled by light in one year? in other words, how did you get the value 5.89x10^12, and what measure is it in? is it feet, meters, kilometers, parsecs, chips, figs, leaves, number of fish caught by you last year or pounds?

Answer 4

A light year is the distance light can travel in a year and it is 5.89x10^12 in miles, or 5,878,630,000,000.

Answer 5

right. so the answer you got should be 47.12x10^12 miles.
you must always remember to tell what it is your number signifies.

I could say 210598034985093, and you wouldn't know what that number means unless I tell you it is pounds or feet or the number of leaves in the entire world etc. see what I mean?

Answer 6

So if a light year is 5.89x10^12, if I multiply that by 8 (warp 8), is that going to give me how many miles the voyager can travel at warp 8 in a year? I read the other post you answered for someone earlier but I was unsure about the approach

Answer 7

yes. your method is basically correct. but you have to be able to justify why you picked 5.89x10^12 miles as the distance traveled by light in one year. Did you google it?

Answer 8

No I had an earlier problem that told me a light year is 5,878,630,000,000, and it had me convert it to sci notation which is 5.89x10^12. So I thought I could use that in the new problem, but technically its not the same thing as the speed of light, maybe my approach is wrong?

Answer 9

if you had it in an earlier problem, and your current problem is a continuation of your earlier problem, then you are justified in using your value. a light year is the distance traveled by light in one year.

Answer 10

Ok thank you for your help. So does this look right? (8x10^0)(5.89x10^12)=47.12x10^12

Answer 11

5,878,630,000,000 miles is 5.878 x 10^12 or 5.88x10^12

and yes, your answer is right if you specify it as miles, otherwise it is meaningless, just a number.