standard_description: Perform operations with numbers expressed in scientific notation, including problems where both decimal and scientific notation are used. Use scientific notation and choose units of appropriate size for measurements of very large or very small quantities (e.g., use millimeters per year for seafloor spreading). Interpret scientific notation that has been generated by technology.
problem_activity: Task
A penny is about $\frac{1}{16}$ of an inch thick.
In 2011 there were approximately 5 billion pennies minted. If all of these pennies were placed in a single stack, how many miles high would that stack be?
In the past 100 years, nearly 500 billion pennies have been minted. If all of these pennies were placed in a single stack, how many miles high would that stack be?
The distance from the moon to the earth is about 239,000 miles. How many pennies would need to be in a stack in order to reach the moon?


aligns: yes