Use scientific notation to determine which of these numbers has the greatest value: 654,987,034; 645,897,430; or 546,789,340. Write your answer in scientific notation, expressed to the exact decimal place.

Answer 1

To express the numbers in scientific notation, we convert each number to the format \( a \times 10^n \), where \( 1 \leq a < 10 \) and \( n \) is an integer.

1. For 654,987,034: \[ 654,987,034 = 6.54987034 \times 10^8 \]

2. For 645,897,430: \[ 645,897,430 = 6.45897430 \times 10^8 \]

3. For 546,789,340: \[ 546,789,340 = 5.46789340 \times 10^8 \]

Now, we can compare the coefficients:

• \( 6.54987034 \)
• \( 6.45897430 \)
• \( 5.46789340 \)

Clearly, \( 6.54987034 \) is the largest of these coefficients. Therefore, the number with the greatest value is:

\[ \boxed{6.54987034 \times 10^8} \]