To find the product of the numbers \(5.03\) and \(14.5\), first perform the multiplication without considering the decimal point:
\[ 503 \times 145 \]
Calculating \(503 \times 145\):
-
Multiply \(503\) by \(5\):
\(503 \times 5 = 2515\) -
Multiply \(503\) by \(40\):
\(503 \times 40 = 20120\) (because \(40 = 4 \times 10\)) -
Multiply \(503\) by \(100\):
\(503 \times 100 = 50300\)
Now, we need to add these up:
\[ 2515 + 20120 + 50300 = 72735 \]
Next, we count the total number of decimal places in the original numbers.
- \(5.03\) has 2 decimal places.
- \(14.5\) has 1 decimal place.
In total, there are \(2 + 1 = 3\) decimal places.
Now, we place the decimal point in \(72735\) to reflect these 3 decimal places:
The product is:
\[ 72.735 \]
So, the final answer is:
\[ 5.03 \times 14.5 = 72.735 \]