How do you convert -0.000134 into scientific notation?

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Answer 1 · 2015-07-12T22:28:55

The number in standard scientific notation is $-1.34 × 10^(-4)$ .

In scientific notation, numbers are written in the form $a × 10^b$ , where $a$ is the "pre-exponential" part and $10^b$ is the exponential part.

Your number in decimal form is $-0.000134$ .

When we convert to scientific notation, the negative sign stays the same.

We move the decimal point so there is only one non-zero digit in front of the decimal point.

So, $-0.000134$ becomes $-00001.34$ .

The "leading zeroes" are not significant and can be dropped, so the pre-exponential term is $-1.34$ .

We moved the decimal place four places so the exponent is $4$ .

We moved the decimal place to the right, so the exponent is negative.

The exponential part is therefore $10^-4$ .

So $-0.000134 = -1.34 × 10^-4$ .