Q: How is the number 21,638,424 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 2.1638424 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 21,638,424 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 | . | 1 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
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 = 2.1638424
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
2.1638424 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 2.1638424 = 21,638,424
21,638,422 | 21,638,423 | 21,638,425 | 21,638,426 |
2.1638422 x 107 | 2.1638423 x 107 | 2.1638425 x 107 | 2.1638426 x 107 |