Question

John calculated several numbers in his calculator. The result displayed 5.3E-7 on the calculator screen. Which number does this represent in standard notation?

Answer 1

0.00000053

Explanation:

The "Eα" (or "eα" depending on the calculator) with α any number, represents the same as 10^α.

In this case we have 5.3E-7 which will be equal to 5.3[10^(-7)]. And 10^(-7) is the same as 1 / (10^7). We need to see what is 10^7:

10^7 = 10*10*10*10*10*10*10 = 10,000,000

And,

1 / 10,000,000 = 0,0000001 (we get as many numbers after the coma than 0s in 10,000,000).

So,

5.3E-7 = 5.3[10^(-7)] = 5.3 * 0,0000001 = 0.00000053