Final answer:
Susan's answer was incorrect because the correct scientific notation for 12,050,000 is 1.205 times 10^7, with the decimal point moved six places to the left to have one non-zero digit to the left of the decimal.
Step-by-step explanation:
Susan was given the number 12,050,000 to convert to scientific notation, but her answer of 1.24 times 107 was marked incorrect because it does not accurately represent the number. In scientific notation, we write a number so that it has one non-zero digit to the left of the decimal point, followed by a multiplication sign and a power of 10.
To convert 12,050,000 to scientific notation correctly, we move the decimal point six places to the left, from its original position at the end of the number to after the first non-zero digit. This gives us 1.205 times 107. Notice that all non-zero digits are kept to maintain the original number's value.
Another example, to write the number 87,449 in scientific notation with four significant figures, we move the decimal point four places to the left to get 8.7449 times 104. For a small number like 0.000066600, with five significant figures, the scientific notation would be 6.6600 times 10-5 since we move the decimal five places to the right.