Understanding Scientific Notation

Scientific notation expresses numbers as a product of a number between 1 and 10 (including 1) and a power of 10.

Steps

1. Move the decimal: Start with 71.0. To get a number between 1 and 10, move the decimal one place to the left: 7.1

2. Adjust the exponent: Since you moved the decimal one place to the left, increase the exponent of 10 by one. 10³ becomes 10⁴.

3. Combine the parts: The final answer is 7.1 x 10⁴