Q: How is the number 538,480,472 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 5.38480472 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 538,480,472 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 | . | 3 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
| 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 = 5.38480472
b = 8
Now the whole thing:
5.38480472 x 108
Check your work:
108 = 100,000,000 x 5.38480472 = 538,480,472
| 538,480,470 | 538,480,471 | 538,480,473 | 538,480,474 |
| 5.3848047 x 108 | 5.38480471 x 108 | 5.38480473 x 108 | 5.38480474 x 108 |