What is the scientific notation of 204500SolutionScientific

What is the scientific notation of 204,500?

Solution

Scientific notation is geared through place value. There are couple of ways to approach solving this problem. I have always felt that the easiest thing to do is to make the number a decimal between 0 and 9. For example, 354 can be written as a decimal between 0 and 9 as 3.54 just as 7,023 can be rewritten as 7.023. Once you have done this, determine what power of ten the number represents without going over. For example, 354 is in the realm of 10 to second power (10 raised to the second power is 10 x 10, which equals 100). 7,023 is in the domain of 10 raised to the 3rd power (10 raised to the third power is 10 x 10 x 10, which is 1000.) Place a multiplication sign in between both the decimal and the power of 10 and you have scientific notation.

In the problem given, 204, 500 in scientific notation represented as 2.045 x 10 to the 5th power.