What is 12500 written 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 12,500 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: 12,500

New Number: 1.2500

Step 2

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

New Number:1.2500

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 = 1.25 (Please notice any zeroes on the end have been removed)

b = 4

Now the whole thing:

1.25 x 104

Step 4

Check your work:

104 = 10,000 x 1.25 = 12,500

Step-by-step explanation: