Question

astronomers measure large distances in light years one light year is the distance that light can travel in one year or approximately 5.88 x 10^12 miles. Suppose a star is 3.2x10^2 light years from earth in scientific notation, approximately how many miles is it

Answer 1

What you can do in this case is the following rule of three to find the result:
 1 light year ---> 5.88 * 10 ^ 12 miles
 3.2 * 10 ^ 2 light year ---> x
 Clearing x we have:
 x = ((3.2 * 10 ^ 2) / (1)) * (5.88 * 10 ^ 12)
 x = 1.88 * 10 ^ 15 miles
 answer:
 In scientific notation, approximately it is 1.88 * 10 ^ 15 miles