Q: How is the number 45,542,121 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 4.5542121 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 45,542,121 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 | . | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 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 = 4.5542121
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
4.5542121 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 4.5542121 = 45,542,121
45,542,119 | 45,542,120 | 45,542,122 | 45,542,123 |
4.5542119 x 107 | 4.554212 x 107 | 4.5542122 x 107 | 4.5542123 x 107 |