SOLUTION: The 1906 San Francisco earthquake had a magnitude of 7.9 on the MMS scale. At the same time there was an earthquake with magnitude 6.8 that caused only minor damage. How many times

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Question 1058607: The 1906 San Francisco earthquake had a magnitude of 7.9 on the MMS scale. At the same time there was an earthquake with magnitude 6.8 that caused only minor damage. How many times more intense was the San Francisco earthquake than the South American one?
Found 2 solutions by stanbon, josgarithmetic:
Answer by stanbon(75887) About Me  (Show Source):
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The 1906 San Francisco earthquake had a magnitude of 7.9 on the MMS scale. At the same time there was an earthquake with magnitude 6.8 that caused only minor damage. How many times more intense was the San Francisco earthquake than the South American one?
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10^7.9/10^6.8 = 10^1.1 = 12.59 times more intense
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Cheers,
Stan H.
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Answer by josgarithmetic(39614) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
These scale measurements are logarithms of some specific quantity. I will assume base-ten, and say that those measures differ this way:

system%28log%2810%2Cx%29=7.9%2Clog%2810%2Cy%29=6.8%29
but as I think while solving this way, in base ten, those measures are EXPONENTS, so just their difference may be useful.

7.9-6.8=1.1

This is a little more than 10 times more powerful than the South American earthquake. You could also try log%2810%2CD%29=1.1
10%5E1.1=D
D=12.6-----------maybe call this 13 times more powerful than the S.A. quake.