You can put this solution on YOUR website! How do I convert this to scientific notation? 0.000000309
==============================
.
Scientific notation is a useful way to represent very large---or very small---numbers. (Who really wants to write all those zeroes?)
.
Numbers in scientific notation look like this:
.
[a decimal number greater than or equal to 1, and less than 10] x [10 raised to some power]
.
Let's look at your number, 0.000000309
That's 309 billionths, but 309 is too big a number for scientific notation. We need a number between 1 and 10...a number like 3.09 hundred billionths. One hundred billion is 10 raised to the negative 9th power.
.
.
An easy way to decide how many powers of ten you have is to count the number of decimal places you move to get a number between 1 and 10. We move 9 places to the right to change 0.000000309 into 3.09. That's equivalent to 10^(-9).
.
I hope this helps! Scientific notation can be hard to understand at first, but once you get it, it's very useful, and kind of fun (in a geeky sort of way!)
.
Here are two good websites for learning scientific notation:
---
http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm
---
and
---
http://www.khanacademy.org/video/scientific-notation-1?playlist=Algebra%20I%20Worked%20Examples
---
Ms.Figgy
math.in.the.vortex
