Question

How do you write 647.2 in scientific notation?

Answer 1

`6.472` x `10^-2`

Explanation:

The ‘scientific notation’ part of this is the ‘x `10^-2`’ in the above.

Let's look at this a little more closely, and start with an easier example.

What is 2,000 expressed in scientific notation?

2,000 expressed in scientific notation would be `2` x `10^3`

The ‘scientific notation’ part of this is the ‘x `10^3`’, which essentially means that number in front, in this case 2, is multiplied by `10^3`, and all that `10^3` mean is 10 x 10 x 10 = 1,000.

So, `2` x `10^3` g is in fact 2 x 10 x 10 x 10, which is 2,000 g.

Some times the number superscript (called the power or exponent) to the 10 may have a minus sign in front. For example: `2` x `10^-3` g

All the minus sign means is that instead of multiplying by 10 the number, 2, is repeatedly divided by 10, so we get 2 ÷ 10 ÷ 10 ÷ 10, which is 0.002 g. (You divide by 10 three times as the exponent is 3).

One very useful button on your calculator that you might wish to experiment with is the "ENG" button. This button will automatically express numbers in the scientific notation format.