How do you divide #(6.98*10^8)/(3.67*10^5)#?

1 Answer
Apr 3, 2015

You can split the fractions and deal with the two parts separately:
#\frac{6.98 * 10^8}{3.67 * 10^5}=\frac{6.98}{3.67} * \frac{10^8}{10^5}#

The first fraction is a standard numeric division, and so any calculator gives you #6.98 \div 3.67 = 1.90#. As for the second ratio, use the formula that states that when dividing two powers with the same base, you simply subtract the exponents. You can see that this makes perfectly sense, since you can simplify as many "tens" in the numerator as many "tens" in the denominator you have:
#\frac{10^8}{10^5}=\frac{10*10*10*10*10*10*10*10}{10*10*10*10*10}=10*10*10=10^3#
and we have indeed that #10^8 \div 10^5 = 10^{8-5}=10^3#

So, the final answer is that #\frac{6.98 * 10^8}{3.67 * 10^5}=1.90 * 10^3#