To express the number 13 million in scientific notation, we first need to understand the format of scientific notation. Scientific notation is a way of writing numbers that are too large or too small in a more manageable form. It is typically expressed as:
N x 10k,
where N is a number greater than or equal to 1 and less than 10, and k is an integer.
Now, let’s break it down:
- Start with the number 13,000,000.
- Identify where the decimal point would be if we wrote it out: 13,000,000.0.
- Next, move the decimal point to create a number between 1 and 10. By moving the decimal point 7 places to the left, we get 1.3.
- Since we moved the decimal 7 places to the left, we add that as the exponent of 10. Thus, we have 1.3 x 107.
Therefore, the scientific notation for 13 million is: 1.3 x 107.