To find the country with the lowest point and the country with the highest low point using a number line, follow these steps:
1. Plot the elevations on the number line:
- Mark the elevation of -408 for Israel.
- Mark the elevation of -154 for China.
- Mark the elevation of -133 for Egypt.
- Mark the elevation of -28 for Azerbaijan.
- Mark the elevation of 35 for Serbia.
- Mark the elevation of 70 for Laos.
2. Identify the country with the lowest point:
- On the number line, the lowest point will be the most leftward point because it has the smallest value.
- Here, -408 (Israel) is the most leftward point.
Therefore, Israel has the lowest point with an elevation of -408 meters.
3. Identify the country with the highest low point:
- The highest low point will be the most rightward point among the negative and positive values because it has the largest value.
- Here, the highest value among the elevations is 70 (Laos).
Therefore, Laos has the highest low point with an elevation of 70 meters.
4. Explain Grant's error:
- Grant says [tex]$-133 > -154$[/tex], so Egypt is farther from sea level than China. This statement is incorrect because when comparing negative elevations (or any two negative numbers), the number with the smaller absolute value (closer to zero) is higher up on the number line.
- [tex]$-133$[/tex] is indeed greater than [tex]$-154$[/tex], but this means that Egypt's lowest point is closer to sea level than China’s, not farther.
To summarize, using a number line, we determined:
- The country with the lowest point is Israel with an elevation of -408 meters.
- The country with the highest low point is Laos with an elevation of 70 meters.
- Grant’s error comes from incorrectly interpreting the relationship between negative numbers. The smaller (less negative) the value, the closer it is to zero (sea level).
