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Multiplying & dividing in scientific notation

In order to simplify multiplication and division using scientific notation, you should multiply and divide numbers with the same base, and add or subtract the exponents. Through this process, complex expressions can be simplified into a single value multiplied with 10 to a certain power. As an example, 7 times 10 to the fifth over 2 times 10 to the negative 2 times 2.5 times 10 to the ninth can be simplified to 1.4 times 10 to the negative 2. Scientific notation helps to simplify complex equations that involve multiplying and dividing numbers with the same base. Created by Sal Khan.

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Video transcript

We have 7 times 10 to the fifth over 2 times 10 to the negative 2 times 2.5 times 10 to the ninth. So let's try to simplify this a little bit. And I'll start off by trying to simplify this denominator here. So the numerator's just 7 times 10 to the fifth. And the denominator, I just have a bunch of numbers that are being multiplied times each other. So I can do it in any order. So let me swap the order. So I'm going to do over 2 times 2.5 times 10 to the negative 2 times 10 to the ninth. And this is going to be equal to-- so the numerator I haven't changed yet-- 7 times 10 to the fifth over-- and here in the denominator, 2 times-- let me do this in a new color now. 2 times 2.5 is 5. And then 10 to the negative 2 times 10 to the ninth, when you multiply two numbers that are being raised to exponents and have the exact same base-- so it's 10 to the negative 2 times 10 to the negative 9-- we can add the exponents. So this is going to be 10 to the 9 minus 2, or 10 to the seventh. So times 10 to the seventh. And now we can view this as being equal to 7 over 5 times 10 to the fifth over 10 to the seventh. Let me do that in that orange color to keep track of the colors. 10 to the seventh. Now, what is 7 divided by 5? 7 divided by 5 is equal to-- let's see, it's 1 and 2/5, or 1.4. So I'll just write it as 1.4. And then 10 to the fifth divided by 10 to the seventh. So that's going to be the same thing as-- and there's two ways to view this. You could view this as 10 to the fifth times 10 to the negative 7. You add the exponents. You get 10 to the negative 2. Or you say, hey, look, I'm dividing this by this. We have the same base. We can subtract exponents. So it's going to be 10 to the 5 minus 7, which is 10 to the negative 2. So this part right over here is going to simplify to times 10 to the negative 2. Now, are we done? Have we written what we have here in scientific notation? It looks like we have. This value right over here is greater than or equal to 1, but it is less than or equal to 9. It's a digit between 1 and 9, including 1 and 9. And it's being multiplied by 10 to some power. So it looks like we're done. This simplified to 1.4 times 10 to the negative 2.