Q: How is the number 720,172,743 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 7.20172743 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 720,172,743 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: | 7 | . | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| 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 = 7.20172743
b = 8
Now the whole thing:
7.20172743 x 108
Check your work:
108 = 100,000,000 x 7.20172743 = 720,172,743
| 720,172,741 | 720,172,742 | 720,172,744 | 720,172,745 |
| 7.20172741 x 108 | 7.20172742 x 108 | 7.20172744 x 108 | 7.20172745 x 108 |