25-Sep-17

Science Technique 101

Scientific Notation

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Whats the purpose?

To represent really big or really small numbers in a way

which is easier to read

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How does it work

All numbers are written as a product of a base 10

multiplication

5.346 104

The digit term The exponent term

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Digit term and Exponent Term

Digit Term Exponent Term

Always in the form of one Base is always 10
non-zero value followed Exponent tells you the
by decimals number of places to shift

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Exponent of 10s purpose

A positive exponent decimal point is shifted that

number of places to the right (number is bigger than 0)

Ex: 543000 is equal to 5.43 x 105

35 000 000 000 000 is equal to 3.5 x 1013

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Exponent of 10s purpose

A negative exponent decimal point is shifted that

number of places to the left (number is smaller than 0)

Ex: 0.0000456 is equal to 4.56 x 10-5

0.000 000 000 000 000 123 4 is equal to 1.234 x 10-16

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Scientific Notation Math: Additions and
Subtraction

All numbers are converted to the same power of 10, and the digit
terms are added or subtracted

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Scientific Notation Math: Multiplication

The digit terms are multiplied normally

Exponents added
** May need to change end result so have only one non-zero in front
of decimals

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Scientific Notation Math: Division

The digit terms are multiplied normally

Exponents subtracted
** May need to change end result so have only one non-zero in front
of decimals