Final answer:
The number 26,500 written in scientific notation is 2.65 × 10^4. This is done by moving the decimal 4 places to the left and using 10 raised to that power.
Step-by-step explanation:
The population of Rahway, New Jersey, in the year 2000, which was 26,500, can be written in scientific notation as 2.65 × 104.
To convert the number 26,500 to scientific notation, we need to express it as a product of a number between 1 and 10 and a power of 10. We accomplish this by placing the decimal after the first non-zero digit and counting the number of places the decimal has moved from its original position at the end of the number to its new position.
Since the decimal has moved 4 places to the left, the exponent will be 4, resulting in the scientific notation of 2.65 × 104. This format is particularly useful for expressing very large or very small numbers in a more compact form and is widely used in fields such as chemistry and physics.