Question

1.2 x 10^19 x 5.88 x 10^12

Answer 1

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Answer:

  7.056 × 10^31

Step-by-step explanation:

The applicable rule of exponents is ...

  (10^a)(10^b) = 10^(a+b)

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  $(1.2\times10^{19})\times(5.88\times10^{12})=(1.2\cdot5.88)\times10^{19+12}\\\\=\boxed{7.056\times10^{31}}$

As you know, the commutative and associative properties of multiplication let you rearrange the order of the product to any convenient form. Here it is convenient to group the mantissas together and the powers of 10 together.

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Additional comments

This is a product your scientific or graphing calculator can produce for you. Likely it will display the result in scientific notation because it won't have enough display digits to show you the product any other way. For smaller numbers, you can set the display mode to give you scientific notation.

If you choose to use a spreadsheet to perform this calculation, the numbers would be entered as 1.2e19 and 5.88e12. The result will be something like 7.056e31. You may have to format the display to show 3 decimal places.