Q: How is the number 52,387,781 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 5.2387781 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 52,387,781 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 | . | 2 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 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 = 5.2387781
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
5.2387781 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 5.2387781 = 52,387,781
52,387,779 | 52,387,780 | 52,387,782 | 52,387,783 |
5.2387779 x 107 | 5.238778 x 107 | 5.2387782 x 107 | 5.2387783 x 107 |