Question 84597
Given:
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(2.4 x 10^-5)(4 x 10^-4)
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For this multiplication you find the product of 2.4 times 4.  It is 9.6.
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Next you find the product of 10^-5 times 10^-4. This is done by adding the exponents
to get the product of 10^(-5-4) = 10^-9
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So in scientific notation form the product for the given two factors is:
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9.6 x 10^-9
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This is the answer to the problem. Note that in scientific notation the product of the two
numbers should be such that there is only 1 integer to the left of the decimal place.  
To get this you might have to add or subtract from the exponent of ten.  In this problem you 
did not have to worry about that because 9.6 has only one integer to the left of the decimal 
place.
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Suppose, for example, the answer had been 103.2 x 10^7. You can convert this to scientific 
notation by putting a decimal point between the 1 and the zero (moving the decimal point
to the left two places), and adding 2 to the exponent of 10. This would make the answer 
1.032 x 10^9.  
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As another example, suppose the answer had been 0.00343 x 10^5. Convert it by moving the
decimal point 3 places to the right and subtracting 3 from the exponent of 10. This makes
the answer in scientific notation 3.43 x 10^2.
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Hope this helps you to understand scientific notation a little better.
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Hope this