The radius of the planet Neptune is approximately 15,300 miles. How is this numbr of miles written in scientific notation?

Answer 1

To write 15,300 miles in scientific notation, you need to express it as a number between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of 10.

1. Move the decimal point in 15,300 so that it is between the 1 and 5: \[ 1.53 \]

2. Count how many places you moved the decimal point. In this case, you moved it 4 places to the left.

3. Therefore, you can express 15,300 as: \[ 1.53 \times 10^4 \]

So, in scientific notation, 15,300 miles is written as \( 1.53 \times 10^4 \) miles.