Q: How is the number 73,874,852 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 7.3874852 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 73,874,852 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 | . | 3 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 2 |
| 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 = 7.3874852
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
7.3874852 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 7.3874852 = 73,874,852
| 73,874,850 | 73,874,851 | 73,874,853 | 73,874,854 |
| 7.387485 x 107 | 7.3874851 x 107 | 7.3874853 x 107 | 7.3874854 x 107 |