To apply Moore's Law in the context of the given problem, we need to calculate how many 18-month periods there are between 1987 and 2017 and then use that to determine the cost of the memory chip in 2017.
From 1987 to 2017 is a period of 30 years. Since 30 years is equivalent to 30 × 12 = 360 months, we can find the number of 18-month periods in 360 months:
360 months / 18 months per period = 20 periods
According to Moore's Law, the cost of computing power halves every 18 months. So, after 20 periods, we need to halve the original cost of $12,500:
- First period: $12,500 / 2 = $6,250
- Second period: $6,250 / 2 = $3,125
- Third period: $3,125 / 2 = $1,562.50
- Fourth period: $1,562.50 / 2 = $781.25
- Fifth period: $781.25 / 2 = $390.625
- Sixth period: $390.625 / 2 = $195.3125
- Seventh period: $195.3125 / 2 = $97.65625
- Eighth period: $97.65625 / 2 = $48.828125
- Ninth period: $48.828125 / 2 = $24.4140625
- Tenth period: $24.4140625 / 2 = $12.20703125
- Eleventh period: $12.20703125 / 2 = $6.103515625
- Twelfth period: $6.103515625 / 2 = $3.0517578125
- Thirteenth period: $3.0517578125 / 2 = $1.52587890625
- Fourteenth period: $1.52587890625 / 2 = $0.762939453125
- Fifteenth period: $0.762939453125 / 2 = $0.3814697265625
- Sixteenth period: $0.3814697265625 / 2 = $0.19073486328125
- Seventeenth period: $0.19073486328125 / 2 = $0.095367431640625
- Eighteenth period: $0.095367431640625 / 2 = $0.0476837158203125
- Nineteenth period: $0.0476837158203125 / 2 = $0.02384185791015625
- Twentieth period: $0.02384185791015625 / 2 = $0.011920928955078125
By rounding this to the nearest cent, we find that the cost of the memory chip in 2017 is approximately $0.01 (or 1 cent).
Therefore, the answer is: c 1 cent.