Light travels at a speed of 1.86 x 10^5 miles per second. If a light year is the distance that light travels in one year how many miles are in a light year?

Answer: 5.865696x10^12 miles

Step-by-step explanation:

Step 1: To calculate how many seconds are in 1 year.

Suppose our year is a non-leap year.

We know there are 365 days in 1 non-leap year, there are 24 hours in 1 day, there are 60 minutes in 1 hour and every minute has 60 seconds.

So,

The number of seconds in 1 non-leap year = 1*365*24*60*60 seconds

The number of seconds in 1 non-leap year = 31,536,000 seconds

Or

The number of seconds in 1 non-leap year=3.1536x10^7 seconds

Step 2: To calculate the distance traveled by light in 1 non-leap year.

We know,

Distance traveled = speed x time

So,

The distance traveled by light in 1 non-leap year = 1.86 x 10^5 x 3.1536x10^7

The distance traveled by light in 1 non-leap year = 5.865696x10^12 miles

Similarly we can find the distance traveled by light in 1 leap year taking 366 days in an year.