Q: How is the number 468,173,872 written in Scientific Notation?

 A: 4.68173872 x 108

Why is 468,173,872 written as 4.68173872 x 108 in scientific notation?

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 468,173,872 is written in scientific notation.

Step 1

To find a, take the number and move a decimal place to the right one position.

  • Original Number: 468,173,872
  • New Number: 4.68173872

Step 2

Now, to find b, count how many places to the right of the decimal.

New Number: 4.68173872
Decimal Count: 12345678

There are 8 places to the right of the decimal place.

Step 3

Building upon what we know above, we can now reconstruct the number into scientific notation.

Remember, the notation is: a x 10b

a = 4.68173872

b = 8

Now the whole thing:

4.68173872 x 108

Step 4

Check your work:

108 = 100,000,000 x 4.68173872 = 468,173,872


More Scientific Notation Examples

468,173,870468,173,871468,173,873468,173,874
4.6817387 x 1084.68173871 x 1084.68173873 x 1084.68173874 x 108

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