Question

What is 800,000,000 in scientific notation?

Answer 1

`800,000,000. = 8. xx 10^8`

Explanation:

Scientific notation is a way of writing very big or very small numbers quickly, easily and accurately, without having to write lots of zeros.

If a zero is added on or left off by mistake, it changes the answer by a factor of 10!

We use the powers of 10, which are `10, 100, 1000, 10,000 ...`

These are written as `10, 10^2, 10^3, 10^4 ....`

We multiply the powers of 10 by a number to show how many of a certain power of 10 we are using.

`600 = 6 xx 100 = 6 xx 10^2`

`9,000,000 = 9 xx 1,000,000 = 9 xx 10^6`

You will see that the number of zeros is the same as the index.

Sometimes there is more than one non-zero digit to consider:

`7,250,000 = 7.25 xx 1,000,000 = 7.25 xx 10^6`

There must only be ONE digit before the decimal point.

To change a number to scientific notation:
Count how many places the decimal point must move.

`800,000,000. = 8. xx 10^8`

The point was moved 8 places to the left until it was just to the right of the `8`.