Q: How is the number 70,538 written in Scientific Notation?

Why is 70,538 written as 7.0538 x 10⁴ in scientific notation?

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 10^b

Follow the steps below to see how 70,538 is written in scientific notation.

Step 1

To find a, take the number and move a decimal place to the right one position.

• Original Number: 70,538
• New Number: 7.0538

Step 2

Now, to find b, count how many places to the right of the decimal.

New Number:	7	.	0	5	3	8
Decimal Count:			1	2	3	4

There are 4 places to the right of the decimal place.

Step 3

Building upon what we know above, we can now reconstruct the number into scientific notation.

Remember, the notation is: a x 10^b

a = 7.0538

b = 4

Now the whole thing:

7.0538 x 10⁴

Step 4

Check your work:

10⁴ = 10,000 x 7.0538 = 70,538

More Scientific Notation Examples