Q: How is the number 54,212,571 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 5.4212571 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 54,212,571 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 | . | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 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 = 5.4212571
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
5.4212571 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 5.4212571 = 54,212,571
| 54,212,569 | 54,212,570 | 54,212,572 | 54,212,573 |
| 5.4212569 x 107 | 5.421257 x 107 | 5.4212572 x 107 | 5.4212573 x 107 |