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 256,612,060 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 | . | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 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 = 2.5661206 (Please notice any zeroes on the end have been removed)
b = 8
Now the whole thing:
2.5661206 x 108
Check your work:
108 = 100,000,000 x 2.5661206 = 256,612,060
256,612,058 | 256,612,059 | 256,612,061 | 256,612,062 |
2.56612058 x 108 | 2.56612059 x 108 | 2.56612061 x 108 | 2.56612062 x 108 |