The purpose of scientific notation is for scientists to write very large, or very small, numbers with ease.
Calculating scientific notation for a positive integer is simple, as it always follows this notation:
a x 10b
Follow the steps below to see how 115,501,420 is written in scientific notation.
To find a, take the number and move a decimal place to the right one position.
Now, to find b, count how many places to the right of the decimal.
New Number: | 1 | . | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
Decimal Count: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
There are 8 places to the right of the decimal place.
Building upon what we know above, we can now reconstruct the number into scientific notation.
Remember, the notation is: a x 10b
a = 1.1550142 (Please notice any zeroes on the end have been removed)
b = 8
Now the whole thing:
1.1550142 x 108
Check your work:
108 = 100,000,000 x 1.1550142 = 115,501,420
115,501,418 | 115,501,419 | 115,501,421 | 115,501,422 |
1.15501418 x 108 | 1.15501419 x 108 | 1.15501421 x 108 | 1.15501422 x 108 |