Question

mercury is the closest plant to the sun at a distance of 36 million miles.the closest star to the sun is proxima centurie, which 4.24 light years away a light 5.9 x 10^12 miles how many miles from the sun is proxima centauri? express your answer in scientific notation

Answer 1

To find the distance in miles we have to multiply the distance in light years by it's equivalent in miles:

$4.24\text{ light years}\cdot\times5.9\cdot10^{12}\text{ miles}\cdot=4.24\cdot5.9\cdot10^{12}=25.016\cdot10^{12}$

In correct scientific notation we have to move the decimal point one place to the right, so we add 1 to the exponent of 10:

$2.5016\times10^{13}$

Proxima Centauri is 2.5016 x 10¹³ miles away from the Sun