How do you convert 32 into scientific notation?

Question

8659 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2015-07-12T22:47:04

The number in standard scientific notation is $3.2 × 10$ .

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 $32$ .

To get to "standard" scientific notation, we move the decimal point so there is only one non-zero digit in front of the decimal point.

So, $32$ becomes $3.2$ .

We moved the decimal point one place, so the exponent is $1$ .

We moved the decimal point to the left, so the exponent is positive.

The exponential part is therefore $10^1$ .

The exponent "1" is not usually written, so $10^1 = 10$ .

So $32 = 3.2 × 10$ .