# Thread: Simple scientific notation problem

1. ## Simple scientific notation problem

Hi. I'm taking a college algebra course. On our first quiz I have the following task:

"Evaluate and report the answer in scientific notation (8x10^4)(9x10^-8) (OVER) 2x10^-2"

When I do the math with a calculator, I get the answer .72 (Or 7.2x10^-1).

HOWEVER, when I try to work through the whole problem as scientific notation, I end up with a variant of 3.6x10^somethingth

Could someone please work through the steps for resolving this problem?

Thank you!

2. Originally Posted by blastedcody
Hi. I'm taking a college algebra course. On our first quiz I have the following task:

"Evaluate and report the answer in scientific notation (8x10^4)(9x10^-8) (OVER) 2x10^-2"

When I do the math with a calculator, I get the answer .72 (Or 7.2x10^-1). How did you get this result?

HOWEVER, when I try to work through the whole problem as scientific notation, I end up with a variant of 3.6x10^somethingth

Could someone please work through the steps for resolving this problem?

Thank you!
$\dfrac{(8 \cdot 10^4)(9 \cdot 10^{-8})}{ 2 \cdot 10^{-2}} = \dfrac{8 \cdot 9}2 \cdot 10^{4 - 8 - (-2)} = 36 \cdot 10^{-2} = 3.6 \cdot 10^{-1}$

3. That was an answer that I had gotten before. I must have just done the calculator work incorrectly. Thank you for the help!