How would 0.073 be written in scientific notation?

1 Answer

0.073 would be written as #7.3 * 10^-2#

Explanation:

Scientific notation uses multiplication or division of a number by 10s to express a number without taking up too much space.

For example we express large numbers like this:

#3000000000=3 * 10^8#

The number above, 300 million, is simply the same as taking 3 and multiplying it by 10 8 times. This is exactly what #*10^8# means. We can interpret the equation above as:

#300000000 = 3 xx 10*10*10*10*10*10*10*10#

On the other hand, we can express very small numbers by dividing by ten, as in your example. We tell others that we are dividing by ten by using a negative exponent.

For example:

#3*10^2 = 3*10*10#

While

#3*10^-2 = 3/(10*10)#

There are some easy tricks to switch numbers between standard and scientific notation. For examples, check out this video: