Scientific Notation vs Exponents

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anniev2: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 73; Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:39 am

Scientific Notation vs Exponents

by anniev2 » Wed Mar 18, 2009 5:43 am

I do not understand why in this situation the decimal point in 10 is not moved 5 spaces to the right to get the answer.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Quantitative Reasoning | Wed Mar 18, 2009 5:43 am

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Ian Stewart: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2623; Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 3:17 am; Location: Montreal; Thanked: 1090 times; Followed by:355 members; GMAT Score:780

by Ian Stewart » Wed Mar 18, 2009 5:54 am

10^1 is just 10, so you're one position off in your diagram. 10^2 = 100, 10^3 = 1000, and so on. The exponent tells you the number of zeros which follow the '1' digit.

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