College Algebra
Answer/Discussion to Practice Problems
Tutorial 3: Scientific Notation

WTAMU > Virtual Math Lab > College Algebra > Tutorial 3: Scientific Notation

Answer/Discussion to 1a

Step 1: Move the decimal point so that you have a number that is between 1 and 10.

*Decimal is at the end of the number

*Move decimal to create a number between 1 and 10

Step 2: Count the number of decimal places moved in Step 1 .

How many decimal places did we end up moving?
We started at the end of the number 123400 and moved it between the 1 and 2. That looks like a move of 5 places.

What direction did it move?
Looks like we moved it to the left.

So, our count is +5.

Step 3: Write as a product of the number (found in Step 1) and 10 raised to the power of the count (found in Step 2).

Note how the number we started with is a bigger number than the one we are multiplying by in the scientific notation. When that is the case, we will end up with a positive exponent.

(return to problem 1a)

Answer/Discussion to 2a