What does a positive exponent in scientific notation indicate?

What does a positive exponent in scientific notation indicate?

• A. Division by 10
• B. Multiplication by 10
• C. Addition of 10
• D. Subtraction of 10

Answer: (B)

A positive exponent in scientific notation means you are scaling the number up by a power of ten. In scientific notation, numbers are written as a × 10^n. When n is positive, 10^n is a factor greater than 1, so the whole value increases by multiplying by 10 n times. For example, 4.5 × 10^3 equals 4.5 × 1000 = 4500, which is effectively multiplication by 10^3 (a series of multiplications by 10). This isn’t about adding or subtracting 10; it’s about multiplying by a factor of ten. A negative exponent would instead indicate division by ten.

A positive exponent in scientific notation means you are scaling the number up by a power of ten. In scientific notation, numbers are written as a × 10^n. When n is positive, 10^n is a factor greater than 1, so the whole value increases by multiplying by 10 n times. For example, 4.5 × 10^3 equals 4.5 × 1000 = 4500, which is effectively multiplication by 10^3 (a series of multiplications by 10). This isn’t about adding or subtracting 10; it’s about multiplying by a factor of ten. A negative exponent would instead indicate division by ten.