Q: How is the number 514,782,487 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 5.14782487 x 108
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 514,782,487 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 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 7 |
Decimal Count: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
There are 8 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 = 5.14782487
b = 8
Now the whole thing:
5.14782487 x 108
Check your work:
108 = 100,000,000 x 5.14782487 = 514,782,487
514,782,485 | 514,782,486 | 514,782,488 | 514,782,489 |
5.14782485 x 108 | 5.14782486 x 108 | 5.14782488 x 108 | 5.14782489 x 108 |