Q: How is the number 72,578,793 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 7.2578793 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 72,578,793 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 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 3 |
| 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 = 7.2578793
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
7.2578793 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 7.2578793 = 72,578,793
| 72,578,791 | 72,578,792 | 72,578,794 | 72,578,795 |
| 7.2578791 x 107 | 7.2578792 x 107 | 7.2578794 x 107 | 7.2578795 x 107 |