Orders of magnitude

Goal: To understand orders of magnitude and be apply to apply this knowledge to

complete mathematical calculations.
Access Prior Knowledge:
Round each number to the number of significant figure indicated and write
using scientific notation.
1. 204 001.5 (3)
2. 0.004145 (2)
3. 10 134 556 (4)
Solutions
1. 204 001.5 (3) = 204 000
2. 0.004145 (2) = 0.0041
3. 10 134 556 (4) = 10 130 000
New Knowledge (To be copied into your notebooks):
Orders of magnitude
An order of magnitude uses factors of 10 to give generalized estimates and relative
scale numbers.
To use orders of magnitude we need to be familiar with powers of 10.
Power of
10
10-4
10-3
10-2
10-1
100
101
102
103
104

Basic
numeral
0.0001
0.001
0.01
0.1
1
10
100
1000
10 000

Order of
magnitude
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4

The power gives us the order of

magnitude.
An increase of 1 order of magnitude means an increase in the basic numeral by a
multiple of 10
A decrease of 1 order of magnitude means a decrease in the basic numeral by a
multiple of 10.
Scientific notation and orders of magnitude
If two numbers in scientific notation have the same coefficient (the numbers in the
first part of the scientific notation between 1 and 10 are the same), we can easily
find the order of magnitude by finding the difference between the powers of 10.
Information sourced from school book-listed text book Jacaranda Plus Maths Quest 11

Apply New Knowledge:

1. Identify the order of magnitude that expresses the difference in distance
between 3.5km and 350km.
Calculate the difference in size
350 3.5 = 100
Express this as a power of 10
100 = 102
The exponent of the power of 10 is the order of magnitude
The order of magnitude that expresses the difference in distance is 2.
2. By how many orders of magnitude do the following distances differ?
Distance A: 2.6 10-3 km
Distance B: 2.6 102 km
In scientific notation, both numbers have a coefficient of 2.6, so we can find the
order of magnitude by subtracting the powers.
2 - -3 = 5
The distances differ by an order of magnitude of 5.
New Knowledge (To be copied into your notebooks):
Units of measure
Converting length

Converting mass

Apply New Knowledge:

Information sourced from school book-listed text book Jacaranda Plus Maths Quest 11

3. The mass of a single raindrop is approximately 1 10-4 grams and the

mass of an average apple is approximately 1 10-1 kilograms.
a. By how many orders of magnitude do these masses differ?
First convert 1 10-1 kilograms to grams
1 10-1 103 = 1 102 g
Find the order of magnitude by subtracting the powers
2- -4 = 6
The masses differ by 6 orders of magnitude.
b. Expressed as a basic numeral, how many times larger is the mass of
the apple than the mass of the mass of the raindrop?
106 = 1 000 000
The mass of the apple is 1 000 000 times larger than the mass of the raindrop.
New Knowledge (To be copied into your notebooks):
Logarithmic scales
Earthquakes are measured by seismometers, which record the amplitude of the
seismic waves of the earthquake.
Logarithmic scales are used to measure the amplitude.
A logarithmic scale represents numbers using a log (base 10) scale. This means that if
we express all of the numbers in the form 10a, the logarithmic scale will represent
these numbers as a.
For every increase of 1 in the magnitude of the scale, the amplitude, or power,
increases by a multiple of 10.
Apply New Knowledge
4. Using the information from the table below, compare the real amplitude
of the Australian earthquake to that of the Japanese earthquake, which
resulted in a tsunami that damaged the Fukushima power plant.

Find the order of magnitude

9 5.4 = 3.6
Express the order of magnitude as a power of 10
103.6
Information sourced from school book-listed text book Jacaranda Plus Maths Quest 11

Evaluate to express the amplitude

103.6 = 3981.87
The Japanese earthquake was nearly 4000 times larger than the Australian one.
Goal Review:
Rate yourself again on your knowledge of the topic now.
Rate yourself on how much effort you put in this lesson.

Information sourced from school book-listed text book Jacaranda Plus Maths Quest 11