How do you simplify (2.01times10^-4)(8.9times10^-3)?

1 Answer
Feb 13, 2017

See the entire simplification process below:

Explanation:

First, we can rewrite this expression as:

(2.01 xx 8.9)(10^-4 xx 10^-3)

17.889(10^-4 xx 10^-3)

We can now use this rule of exponents to combine the 10s terms:

x^color(red)(a) xx x^color(blue)(b) = x^(color(red)(a) + color(blue)(b))

17.889(10^color(red)(-4) xx 10^color(blue)(-3)) = 17.889 xx 10^(color(red)(-4) + color(blue)(-3)) =

17.889 xx 10^(-7)

Or

1.7889 xx 10^(-6)