Question

In this problem, you will practice added, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing numbers written in scientific notation. For each part, use the following numbers.
3.2 x 10^4, 1.95 x 10^6, 8.03 x 10^-8, 2.56 x 10^-2, 4.82 x 10^12
Choose two of the scientific numbers from the list and subtract them. Show
your work.

Answer 1

Let's choose the numbers 3.2 x 10^4 and 2.56 x 10^-2 to subtract:

3.2 x 10^4 - 2.56 x 10^-2

First, we need to make sure both numbers have the same exponent. To do this, we can convert 2.56 x 10^-2 to scientific notation with the same exponent as 3.2 x 10^4. The exponent of 3.2 x 10^4 is 4, so we can rewrite 2.56 x 10^-2 as:

0.0256 x 10^4

Now we can subtract the two numbers:

3.2 x 10^4 - 0.0256 x 10^4

Since both numbers have the same exponent, we can simply subtract the coefficients:

(3.2 - 0.0256) x 10^4

Simplifying the subtraction:

3.1744 x 10^4

So the result of subtracting 3.2 x 10^4 and 2.56 x 10^-2 is 3.1744 x 10^4.