Q: How is the number 42,423,656 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 4.2423656 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 42,423,656 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: | 4 | . | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
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 = 4.2423656
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
4.2423656 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 4.2423656 = 42,423,656
42,423,654 | 42,423,655 | 42,423,657 | 42,423,658 |
4.2423654 x 107 | 4.2423655 x 107 | 4.2423657 x 107 | 4.2423658 x 107 |