Question

In math class, Sam correctly multiplied 3.625×10-8 by 500, then reported his product in scientific notation.

What was the exponent in Sam’s product?
8 is the exponent

A

-16


B

-10


C

-7


D

-5

Answer 1

Question:

In math class, Sam correctly multiplied 3.625×10-8 by 500, then reported his product in scientific notation. What was the exponent in Sam’s product? A -16 B -10 C -7 D -5

Answer:

OPTION D

The exponent in Sam’s product is -5

Solution:

Given that,

In math class, Sam correctly multiplied
`3.625 * 10^(-8)` by 500, then reported his product in scientific notation.

To find: exponent in Sam’s product

Let us first multiply 500 with
`3.625 * 10^(-8)`

`3.625 * 10^(-8) * 500 = 1812.5 * 10^(-8)`

Then Sam has reported this answer in scientific notation

Lets understand what is scientific notation of any number.

Scientific notation is a way of representing number between 1 and 10 incluing 1 and excluding 10 multiplied by appropriate power of 10.

Let us rewrite the Sam's answer in scientific notation

The format for writing a number in scientific notation is:

(first digit of the number) followed by (the decimal point) and then (all the rest of the digits of the number), times (10 to an appropriate power).

In
`1812.5 * 10^(-8)` , we move the decimal 3 times to left side

Since the decimal is moved left side, we multiply by
`10^3`

`1812.5 * 10^(-8) = 1.8125 * 10^3 * 10^(-8) \\\\1812.5 * 10^(-8) = 1.8125 * 10^(-5)`

Exponent is a quantity representing the power to which a given number or expression is to be raised

So in
`1.8125 * 10^(-5)` exponent is -5