The area of Africa is approximately 11.7 million square miles. Which of the following is the correct way to express this number in scientific notation?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To express 11.7 million in scientific notation, we move the decimal point 6 places to the left to get 1.17, and then multiply by 10 to the power of 7 to account for the 7 digits we moved the decimal point. This gives us 1.17 × 10^7, which is option C.

The Area of Africa Is Approximately 11