Roughly, it takes light less than 0.000000003 of a second to travel a one-meter distance. Express this number in the form of a\ \times\ 10^n where 1\ < \ a\ < \ 10 and is a one-digit number.

Answer 1

To express the number in the form of a × 10^n, we need to determine the values of a and n.

Given that light takes less than 0.000000003 of a second to travel a one-meter distance, we can represent this as 0.000000003 seconds.

To convert this number into the desired form, we shift the decimal point to the right until we have a number between 1 and 10. For every shift to the right, we increase the exponent n by 1.

0.000000003 -> 3 × 0.000000001

Therefore, a = 3 and n = -9.

In the desired form, 0.000000003 seconds is written as 3 × 10^-9.