Q: How is the number 20,003,479 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 2.0003479 x 107
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 20,003,479 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: | 2 | . | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 9 |
| Decimal Count: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
There are 7 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 = 2.0003479
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
2.0003479 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 2.0003479 = 20,003,479
| 20,003,477 | 20,003,478 | 20,003,480 | 20,003,481 |
| 2.0003477 x 107 | 2.0003478 x 107 | 2.000348 x 107 | 2.0003481 x 107 |