Q: How is the number 31,871 written in Scientific Notation?

 A: 3.1871 x 104

Why is 31,871 written as 3.1871 x 104 in scientific notation?

The purpose of scientific notation is for scientists to write very large, or very small, numbers with ease.

Calculating scientific notation for a positive integer is simple, as it always follows this notation:

a x 10b

Follow the steps below to see how 31,871 is written in scientific notation.

Step 1

To find a, take the number and move a decimal place to the right one position.

  • Original Number: 31,871
  • New Number: 3.1871

Step 2

Now, to find b, count how many places to the right of the decimal.

New Number: 3.1871
Decimal Count: 1234

There are 4 places to the right of the decimal place.

Step 3

Building upon what we know above, we can now reconstruct the number into scientific notation.

Remember, the notation is: a x 10b

a = 3.1871

b = 4

Now the whole thing:

3.1871 x 104

Step 4

Check your work:

104 = 10,000 x 3.1871 = 31,871


More Scientific Notation Examples

31,86931,87031,87231,873
3.1869 x 1043.187 x 1043.1872 x 1043.1873 x 104

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