Q: How is the number 32,159,661 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 3.2159661 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 32,159,661 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: | 3 | . | 2 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| 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 = 3.2159661
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
3.2159661 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 3.2159661 = 32,159,661
| 32,159,659 | 32,159,660 | 32,159,662 | 32,159,663 |
| 3.2159659 x 107 | 3.215966 x 107 | 3.2159662 x 107 | 3.2159663 x 107 |