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 168,613,730 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 | . | 6 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 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 = 1.6861373 (Please notice any zeroes on the end have been removed)
b = 8
Now the whole thing:
1.6861373 x 108
Check your work:
108 = 100,000,000 x 1.6861373 = 168,613,730
168,613,728 | 168,613,729 | 168,613,731 | 168,613,732 |
1.68613728 x 108 | 1.68613729 x 108 | 1.68613731 x 108 | 1.68613732 x 108 |