Step 1: Since 12000 do not have a decimal point, we will add one at the end of the number 12000.
12000.
Step 2: Move the decimal point from its current position (the black dot) to a position immediately to the right of the first nonzero digit (the red dot).
1.2000.
Step 3: We moved the decimal point 4 spaces to the right. Therefore, the exponent on base 10 will be positive 4.Now we know that the:
Mantissa = 1.2000 (which can be written as 1.2 )
Exponent = 4
So, the solution is:
$$12000 = \color{blue}{ 1.2} \cdot 10^{ \color{red}{ 4 }}$$