Question

Jamie used a microscope to measure the diameter of a hair. She found that the diameter of the hair was 0.000072 meter. How is this number written in scientific notation?

I know the answer is 7.2 times 10 exponent -5 but can someone tell me the steps please?

Answer 1

start with 7.2

Since 10^0, that is just

7.2x10^0
Now, lowering the power of 10 moves the decimal place to the left, so

7.2x10^0 = 7.2
7.2x10^-1 = 0.72
7.2x10^-2 = 0.072
and so on

The number of leading zeroes after the decimal point is 1 less than the negative power of 10.

Answer 2

Thanks!

Answer 3

what is the answer