Question

What is the product of `(5.1x10^3) • (3.2x10^3)`?

Answer 1

`(5.1 × 10^3)·(3.2×10^3) = 1.632 × 10^6`

Explanation:

Two things to remember:

• you multiply the terms before the exponents separately from the terms with exponents
• when you multiply exponents with the same base, you add the exponents

So you can write

`(5.1 × 10^3)·(3.2×10^3) = (5.1 × 3.2)·(10^3 × 10^3) = 16.32 × 10^6`

For standard notation, you move the decimal place one place to the left and increase the exponent by one.

`16.32 × 10^6 = 1.632 × 10^7`