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 51,150,150 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: | 5 | . | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
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 = 5.115015 (Please notice any zeroes on the end have been removed)
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
5.115015 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 5.115015 = 51,150,150
51,150,148 | 51,150,149 | 51,150,151 | 51,150,152 |
5.1150148 x 107 | 5.1150149 x 107 | 5.1150151 x 107 | 5.1150152 x 107 |