Question

use the scientific notation to determine which of these numbers has the least value
A 8.97 x 10^7
B 9.87 x 10^6
C 7.89 x 10^8

Answers

GPT-4o mini
To compare the numbers in scientific notation, we can look at the exponent of 10 first, since it determines the overall scale of the value. The larger the exponent, the larger the number.

1. **A:** \( 8.97 \times 10^7 \) has an exponent of 7.
2. **B:** \( 9.87 \times 10^6 \) has an exponent of 6.
3. **C:** \( 7.89 \times 10^8 \) has an exponent of 8.

Now, we can see that:

- \( 10^8 \) is greater than \( 10^7 \) and \( 10^6 \).
- \( 10^7 \) is greater than \( 10^6 \).

Since \( B \) has the smallest exponent (6), it indicates that \( B \) will have the least value overall.

Thus, the number with the least value is: **B: 9.87 x 10^6**.