Task 1: Numbers as Polynomials The first step to understanding why multiplication works is understanding what a multiple-digit integer really is. You have been working with integers for so long that this understanding is intuitive. In the decimal system, each digit represents a different power of ten. The integer 1 is equal to 100, the integer 10 is equal to 101, the integer 100 is equal to 102, the integer 1,000 equals 103, and so on.

a. All of the examples in the above paragraph refer to integers that include only the digit 1. What would the integer 500 equal using powers of 10? How did you come up with that answer?

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