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 221,211,500 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 | . | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 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 = 2.212115 (Please notice any zeroes on the end have been removed)
b = 8
Now the whole thing:
2.212115 x 108
Check your work:
108 = 100,000,000 x 2.212115 = 221,211,500
221,211,498 | 221,211,499 | 221,211,501 | 221,211,502 |
2.21211498 x 108 | 2.21211499 x 108 | 2.21211501 x 108 | 2.21211502 x 108 |