How do you write 250 million in scientific notation?

1 Answer
Jun 4, 2015

250,000,000 #= 2.5 xx 10^8#

Starting with 250,000,000 you can count the number of times you need to shift it one digit to the right until the result is less than #10#. This is the power of #10# to use for the exponent.

Conversely, if your starting number is less than #1#, count the number of times you need to shift it to the left before it is greater than or equal to #1#. This is the size of the negative exponent of #10#.

For example, #0.0025 = 2.5 xx 10^-3#