Step by step
The question
Question: write 0.05 in scientific notation.
0.05
1 What it looks like
Scientific notation is a number from 1 to under 10, times a power of 10.
a × 10n a: from 1 to under 10
2 Move the point
Moving the point 2 to the right made the number 100 times bigger.
To make it the same again, we divide by 100.
That is times 10⁻².
10−2 = 1100
So 0.05 is 5 × 10⁻².
= 5 × 10−2
3 Check
Let's check: divide by 100 moves the point 2 back to the left.
We get 0.05 again!
5 ÷ 100 = 0.05
Let's look back.
First: what it looks like.
Then: move the point.
Last: check.
Answer
= 5 × 10−2