To express 18,000 in scientific notation, we need to rewrite it as a product of a number between 1 and 10 and a power of 10. Here's the step-by-step process:
1. Identify the most significant digit position in 18,000. The significant digits are 1 and 8.
2. Rewrite 18,000 as a product of a number between 1 and 10 and a power of 10. To do this, we need to move the decimal point 4 places to the left so that it stands behind the number 1.8.
3. Therefore, 18,000 can be written as 1.8 times 10 raised to the power of the number of places we moved the decimal point, which is 4.
Hence, 18,000 expressed in scientific notation is:
[tex]\[ 1.8 \times 10^4 \][/tex]
So, the correct answer is:
[tex]\[ 1.8 \times 10^4 \][/tex]
