The speed of light is about 671,000,000 miles per hour/ How will you write this number in scientific notation?
1. 6.71 x 10^3
2. 6.71 x 10^8
3. 6.71 x 10^-8
4. 6.71 x 10^-3
2. 6.71 x 10^8
To write the speed of light in scientific notation, we need to move the decimal point so that there is only one nonzero digit to the left of the decimal point. Then, we count the number of places we moved the decimal point and use that number as the exponent of 10.
The speed of light, 671,000,000 miles per hour, can be written in scientific notation as 6.71 x 10^8.
Therefore, the correct answer is option 2: 6.71 x 10^8.
To write a number in scientific notation, we need to express it as a product of a number between 1 and 10 and a power of 10. In this case, the speed of light is approximately 671,000,000 miles per hour.
To convert this number into scientific notation, we would move the decimal point after the first non-zero digit, which in this case is 6. So we would have 6.71.
Next, we need to determine the power of 10. Since we moved the decimal point 8 places to the left to get 6.71, the power of 10 is -8.
Therefore, the correct scientific notation for the speed of light is 6.71 x 10^8.
So the correct answer is option 2.