Question

youre trying to find the difference between 5.8×10⁴ and 0.4×10⁴. the power of 10 is the same, and 10⁴ means ten thousands. so you can think of this as 5.8 ten thousands minus 0.4 ten thousands. subtract 5.8 and 0.4 to find how many ten thousands there are.
5.8×10⁴ - 4×10³
= 5.8×10⁴ - 4×10⁻¹×10⁴
= 5.8×10⁴ - 0.4×10⁴
= (5.8 - 0.4)×10⁴
= ×10⁴

Explanation:

Step1: Factor out $10^{4}$

Since we have $5.8\times 10^{4}-0.4\times 10^{4}$, we can use the distributive property $ab - ac=a(b - c)$. Here $a = 10^{4}$, $b=5.8$ and $c = 0.4$. So we get $(5.8 - 0.4)\times10^{4}$.

Step2: Calculate the subtraction inside the parentheses

$5.8-0.4 = 5.4$. So the result is $5.4\times 10^{4}$.

Answer:

$5.4\times 10^{4}$