How would you write 541 in scientific notation?

Answer 1

541 = 5.41 x 102

To convert a number to scientific notation put the decimal point after the first non-zero digit and then multiply by 10 to the power of the number of digits the decimal point has to move to get back to its original position - if this is to the left the power is negative, if to the right it is positive.

So for 541, the decimal point goes after the 5 and as it has to move 2 digits to the right to get back to where it was (it was lurking "invisible" at the end of the whole number), the power of 10 is 2, making 541 = 5.41 x 102 in scientific notation.

Any trailing zeros are normally omitted for example 5400 in scientific notation would be 5.400 x 103 but this is normally written as 5.4 x 103.

Answer 2

5.41 x 10 ^ -1