Solving Scientific Notation: Finding a and n | Step-by-Step Guide

abey_27
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7 × 10^6 divided by a × 10^n is equal to 8.75 × 10^9

a is greater or equal to 1 but less than 10. n is an integer.

Find the value of a and the value of n.
I do not really understand how to separate the a and n, and thus find a value for each of them. Some help would be highly appreciated.


thanks integral, but how exactly does that help??

Integral said:
Remember:

\frac {a b} {c d} = \frac a c . \frac b d
 
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It's easier if you don't think about the algebra. Set up the equation like this:

\frac{7*10^6}{a*10^n}=\frac{7}{8}*10^10

Hopefully it's obvious that 8.75*10^9 = (7/8)*10^10.

From there you can just sort of see the numbers that will work.
 


Your problem is

\frac {7 x 10^6} {a x 10^n} = 8.75 x 10^9

You can't see that this is the same form as the fraction in my first post?
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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