Q: How is the number 51,538,373 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 5.1538373 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 51,538,373 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 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
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 = 5.1538373
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
5.1538373 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 5.1538373 = 51,538,373
51,538,371 | 51,538,372 | 51,538,374 | 51,538,375 |
5.1538371 x 107 | 5.1538372 x 107 | 5.1538374 x 107 | 5.1538375 x 107 |