Question

How do you put the following in descending order `8.01 times 10^2, 10^-1, 10^5, 1/2, 3.79`?

Answer 1

One way is to put them all into scientific notation and rank by the exponent.

Explanation:

`8.01 xx 10^2, 1 xx 10^(−1), 1 xx 10^5, 5.0 xx 10^-1, 3.79 xx 10^0`

in order (smallest exponent to largest):

`1 xx 10^(−1), 5.0 xx 10^-1, 3.79 xx 10^0, 8.01 xx 10^2, 1 xx 10^5`