Question

8.03x10^-8 - 2.55x 10-2

Answer 1

To perform the subtraction \(8.03 \times 10^{-8} - 2.55 \times 10^{-2}\), we first need to express both numbers in the same power of ten.

The number \(2.55 \times 10^{-2}\) can be converted into scientific notation with a power of ten that matches the \(10^{-8}\) in the first term. We can rewrite it as follows:

\[
2.55 \times 10^{-2} = 2.55 \times 10^{-2} \times \frac{10^{6}}{10^{6}} = 2.55 \times 10^{4} \times 10^{-8} = 25,500 \times 10^{-8}
\]

Now, we can rewrite the equation:

\[
8.03 \times 10^{-8} - 25,500 \times 10^{-8}
\]

This becomes:

\[
(8.03 - 25,500) \times 10^{-8} = -25,491.97 \times 10^{-8}
\]

To express it in scientific notation, we convert \(-25,491.97\) into a form that has one digit to the left of the decimal:

\[
-25,491.97 = -2.549197 \times 10^{4}
\]

Thus, combining this with \(10^{-8}\):

\[
-2.549197 \times 10^{4} \times 10^{-8} = -2.549197 \times 10^{-4}
\]

So, the final answer is:

\[
\boxed{-2.549197 \times 10^{-4}}
\]