Question

At its farthest point of orbit, Mercury is 69,800,000 kilometers from the sun. What is the scientific notation for this distance?

Answer 1

`6.98 xx 10^7`

Explanation:

Scientific Notation is a way of writing very big and very small numbers quickly and accurately using powers of `10`

Numbers are written in the form `color(magenta)(a xx 10^n)`.

`a` must be a value from `1`, but less than `10`
`1<= a <10`

`n` must be an integer.

Move the decimal point in `69,800,000.` until there is only one digit on the left of it.

`color(blue)(6).980 0000.`
`uarrlarrlarr`

`6color(red)(9,800,000) to 6.980` . Count the number of places moved. (`color(red)(7)`).

`69,800,000 = color(blue)(6).98 xx 10^color(red)(7)`