Q: How is the number 72,161,481 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 7.2161481 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 72,161,481 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 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 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 = 7.2161481
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
7.2161481 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 7.2161481 = 72,161,481
| 72,161,479 | 72,161,480 | 72,161,482 | 72,161,483 |
| 7.2161479 x 107 | 7.216148 x 107 | 7.2161482 x 107 | 7.2161483 x 107 |