Math: the Richter scale

Tutoring math, the Richter scale comes up. The tutor gives some quick ideas about it.

The following is by my understanding.

The Richter scale is logarithmic, meaning non-linear. In fact, every whole-number increase in it means 10x stronger. So, a quake 4.5 on the Richter scale is ten times more powerful than one that’s 3.5.

I heard yesterday of two quakes: one 7.2, the other 7.5. To compare their strengths one can do as follows:

(10^7.5)/(10^7.2) = 10^0.3 = 1.995.

So, the 7.5 quake is about twice as powerful as the 7.2 quake.

Source:

Davis, G., Hope, J., Rajotte, L., Rolheiser, D., Sarna, A., Sufrin, D., Zimmer, D. (2012). Pre-Calculus 12. Pearson Canada Inc.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.