There are 8 elephants in the zoo. Each elephant eats about 2.16 × 105 pounds of vegetation per year.

The zookeeper asked Nate and Elena to determine how many pounds of vegetation is required to feed all of the elephants. They wrote their solutions in scientific notation.


Nate's Solution Elena's Solution

8 × (2.16 × 105) 8 × (2.16 × 105)

= (8 × 2.16) × 105 = (8 × 2.16) × (8 × 105)

= 17.28 × 105 = 17.28 × 805

= 1.728 × 106 = 1.728 × 806


Who is correct? Explain.