(-4.6 x 10^2) (3.3 x 10^3)

Question

Evaluate and write your answer in scientific notation,.

Answer 1

The first thing you are going to do here is multiply the -4.6x3.3 which gives us -15.18. You can then multiply the other like terms. When you are multiplying exponents, you actually add them. So 10^2 x 10^3 actually looks like 10^(2+3) which equals 10^5. So now you have -15.18x10^5.  Your problem started with two significant figures so that is how we should report our answers. I think the best way to report it would be -1.5x10^6 but it could also be reported as -15x10^5.