How do you convert 0.119 into scientific form?

1 Answer
George C.
Jul 17, 2015

To bring #0.119# into the range #[1,10)#, you need to multiply it by #10# once.

So in scientific form: #0.119 = 1.19 xx 10^(-1)#

Explanation:

Scientific form expresses a number as a mantissa in the range #[1, 10)# multiplied by an integer power of #10#.

In our example, #0.119 < 1#, so will have a negative exponent (power of #10#).

To bring #0.119# into the range #[1, 10)#, we need to multiply it by #10^1#, shifting it one place to the left to get #1.19#. To compensate for the fact that we have multiplied it by #10^1# we use an exponent of #-1# to get:

#0.119 = 1.19 xx 10^(-1)#

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