Question

A typical snake bite delivers 0.0045 grams of venom. Maria and Tammy were asked to write this number in scientific notation. Their answers are shown below. Which student is correct? Explain how you determined your answer.

Answer 1

Maria

Explanation:

A typical snake bite delivers 0.0045 grams of venom.

Maria wrote it in scientific notation as
`4.5* 10^(-3)`

Tammy wrote it in scientific notation as
`4.5* 10^(3)`

Any number can be written in the form of scientific notation as follows :

`N=a* 10^b` (a is real no and b is integer)

The given no is 0.0045.

There are 2 zeroes before 4. Also the decimal is there before 2 zeroes.

`0.0045=(45)/(10000)\\\\=(45)/(10)* (1)/(1000)\\\\=4.5* 10^(-3)`

Hence, Maria is correct.