Each year, the United States' federal costs exceed the anticipated national budget. In fact, the last time that the United States government was able to end a fiscal year without accruing more debt was in 1960. This means that due to excessive spending and compounding interest accrued, the United States' national debt has escalated astronomically over the past several decades. In the second section, you used the United States' national debt to explore concepts involved with numbers in scientific notation. Use the national debt table to create your own operations with numbers in scientific notation.

Year US Nation Debt (in US dollars)
1960 $286,330,760,848.37
1970 $370,918,706,949.93
1980 $907,701,000,000.00
1990 $3,233,313,451,777.25
2000 $5,674,178,209,886.86
2010 $13,561,623,030,891.79
Use the table and your answers from the first section to answer questions 1-3. When applicable, show all work for full credit.

In 1980, the United States' national debt exceeded $9 billion dollars. Express the exact dollar amount in scientific notation.
Use complete sentences to explain, step by step, how to convert a number from standard form to scientific notation. You may use your answer to question #1 to help you explain the process.
Calculate, in scientific notation, how many times greater the recorded debt in 2010 is compared to the recorded debt in 1960. Express your answer in proper scientific notation.