Q: How is the number 87,688,179 written in Scientific Notation?
A: 8.7688179 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 87,688,179 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 | . | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 9 |
| 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 = 8.7688179
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
8.7688179 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 8.7688179 = 87,688,179
| 87,688,177 | 87,688,178 | 87,688,180 | 87,688,181 |
| 8.7688177 x 107 | 8.7688178 x 107 | 8.768818 x 107 | 8.7688181 x 107 |