The purpose of scientific notation is for scientists to write very large, or very small, numbers with ease.
Calculating scientific notation for a positive integer is simple, as it always follows this notation:
Follow the steps below to see how 915,000,000 is written in scientific notation.
Step 1
To find a, take the number and move a decimal place to the right one position.
Original Number: 915,000,000
New Number: 9.15000000
Step 2
Now, to find b, count how many places to the right of the decimal.
New Number: 9 . 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
Decimal Count: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
There are 8 places to the right of the decimal place.
Step 3
Building upon what we know above, we can now reconstruct the number into scientific notation.
Remember, the notation is: a x 10^b
a = 9.15 (Please notice any zeroes on the end have been removed)
b = 8
Now the whole thing:
9.15 x 10^8
or
Step 4
Check your work:
