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 91,185,290 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: | 9 | . | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
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 = 9.118529 (Please notice any zeroes on the end have been removed)
b = 7
Now the whole thing:
9.118529 x 107
Check your work:
107 = 10,000,000 x 9.118529 = 91,185,290
91,185,288 | 91,185,289 | 91,185,291 | 91,185,292 |
9.1185288 x 107 | 9.1185289 x 107 | 9.1185291 x 107 | 9.1185292 x 107 |