To find out how many miles light travels in a year, you can multiply the speed of light by the number of seconds in a year.
- Speed of light: \(1.9 \times 10^5\) miles/second
- Seconds in a year: \(3.2 \times 10^7\) seconds/year
Now, multiply these two values:
\[ \text{Distance} = \text{Speed} \times \text{Time} = (1.9 \times 10^5 \text{ mi/sec}) \times (3.2 \times 10^7 \text{ sec}) \]
Next, we can multiply the coefficients and the powers of ten separately:
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Coefficients: \[ 1.9 \times 3.2 = 6.08 \]
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Powers of ten: \[ 10^5 \times 10^7 = 10^{5+7} = 10^{12} \]
Now combine these results:
\[ \text{Distance} = 6.08 \times 10^{12} \text{ miles} \]
To express the answer in proper scientific notation, it is already in the correct form, with one non-zero digit before the decimal point.
Therefore, the distance light travels in a year is:
\[ \boxed{6.08 \times 10^{12}} \text{ miles} \]