Question

The scientific notation of 0.00036 is
A) \[3.6 \times {10^{ - 3}}\]
B) \[3.6 \times {10^3}\]
C) \[3.6 \times {10^{ - 4}}\]
D) \[3.6 \times {10^4}\]

Answer 1

Hint: Scientific notation is a way of writing too large or too small real numbers in decimal form.
Here, we first need to shift the decimal places to the right and then write the resulting decimal value multiplied with a power of 10

Complete step by step solution:
We are given the number = 0.00036
Firstly, we need to shift the decimal to the right such that it is located at the right side of the leading non zero digit.
Then count the number of places we moved the decimal point and since we moved the decimal point to the right therefore,
10 will get a negative sign with the number of decimal places moved
Hence we get:
\[
  0.00036 = 3.6 \times {10^{ - \left( 4 \right)}} \\
  0.00036 = 3.6 \times {10^{ - 4}} \\
 \]
Hence the scientific notation of \[0.00036\] is \[3.6 \times {10^{ - 4}}\]

Therefore option C is the correct option.

Note:
If the decimal point is shifted to the right then the power of 10 gets a negative sign with the number of decimal places shifted.
If the decimal point is shifted to the left then the power of 10 gets a positive sign with the number of decimal places shifted.