Q: How is the number 85,218,461 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 8.5218461 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 85,218,461 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: | 8 | . | 5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 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 = 8.5218461
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
8.5218461 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 8.5218461 = 85,218,461
| 85,218,459 | 85,218,460 | 85,218,462 | 85,218,463 |
| 8.5218459 x 107 | 8.521846 x 107 | 8.5218462 x 107 | 8.5218463 x 107 |