Powers of Ten

Mathematics in Context is a comprehensive curriculum for the middle grades. It was developed in collaboration with the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, School of Education, University of WisconsinMadison and the Freudenthal Institute at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, with the support of National Science Foundation Grant No. 9054928.

National Science Foundation

Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Foundation

Revision Project
Peter Sickler Project Director Teri Hedges Revision Consultant Nieka Mamczak Revision Consultant Erin Turner Revision Consultant Cheryl Deese MiC General Manager Vicki Mirabile Project Manager

2003 Printing by Holt, Rinehart and Winston Copyright 2003 Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.
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ISBN 0-03-071529-6

The Mathematics in Context Development Team

Mathematics in Context is a comprehensive curriculum for the middle grades. The National Science Foundation funded the National Center for Research in Mathematical Sciences Education at the University of WisconsinMadison to develop and field-test the materials from 1991 through 1996. The Freudenthal Institute at the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands, as a subcontractor, collaborated with the University of WisconsinMadison on the development of the curriculum. The initial version of Powers of Ten was developed by Jan Auke de Jong, Anton Roodhardt, Nanda Querelle, and Monica Wijers. It was adapted for use in American schools by Margaret R. Meyer.

National Center for Research in Mathematical Sciences Education Staff

Thomas A. Romberg Director Gail Burrill Coordinator Field Test Materials Mary Ann Fix Editorial Coordinator James A. Middleton Pilot Test Coordinator Joan Daniels Pedro Assistant to the Director Margaret R. Meyer Coordinator Pilot Test Materials Sherian Foster Editorial Coordinator

Project Staff
Jonathan Brendefur Laura J. Brinker James Browne Jack Burrill Rose Byrd Peter Christiansen Barbara Clarke Doug Clarke Beth R. Cole Fae Dremock Jasmina Milinkovic Margaret A. Pligge Mary C. Shafer Julia A. Shew Aaron N. Simon Marvin Smith Stephanie Z. Smith Mary S. Spence

Freudenthal Institute Staff

Jan de Lange Director Els Feijs Coordinator Martin van Reeuwijk Coordinator

Project Staff
Mieke Abels Nina Boswinkel Frans van Galen Koeno Gravemeijer Marja van den Heuvel-Panhuizen Jan Auke de Jong Vincent Jonker Ronald Keijzer Martin Kindt Jansie Niehaus Nanda Querelle Anton Roodhardt Leen Streefland Adri Treffers Monica Wijers Astrid de Wild

Table of Contents
Letter to the Student. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Section A

Perspective on the Ground

An Introduction to Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Section B

Changing Perspective
The Balloon Trip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Another Look at the Racetrack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Section C

High Perspectives
The Spaceship Trip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Multiplying by 10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Just How Big Is It? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Section D The 10-Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Section E

Other Large Numbers

Scientific Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 The Solar System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 A Walk through the Solar System . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Section F

Small Numbers
Dilution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Try This!
Section A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Section B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Section C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Section D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Section E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Section F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Mathematics in Context Powers of Ten

Dear Student,
n. Powers of Te Welcome to d looks hat the worl wondered w what er nd? Imagine Have you ev ove the grou r even h ab air balloon o like from hig a rising hot jects on e from d higher, ob you could se se higher an our As you ri What would a spaceship! a and smaller. ok smaller ay from it in the ground lo u traveled aw yo all, how look like as e of a basketb solar system were the siz the Sun spaceship? If rth be? patterns. big would Ea udy number while you st y 10 s g numbers b estigate size g and dividin , you will inv o learn a multiplyin In this unit . You will als patterns for or 1,000,000 will discover You as 100 bers. rs of 10, such ry small num and by powe large and ve ry y to write ve nse of powerful wa u to make se s that ask yo m ou if tains proble ow old are y h this unit con r example, h o of nds? How hig r a billion. F One section a billion seco e a million o ed rs lik ills? How you have liv large numbe one-dollar b of a million heels is a stack avel if the w ese ur bicycle tr far does yo u work on th times? As yo n ating, turn a millio ractice estim s, you will p al problem using a speci rge numbers for writing la ng patterns tion, and usi u will nota ers of 10. Yo lying by pow your multip reaming up ith e some fun d also hav pe to share w ms of this ty own proble ates. your classm unit matics in this h the mathe e fun wit that you hav . ays, we hope As alw l information a lot of usefu and learn Sincerely,

m Context Development Tea The Mathematics in

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A. PERSPECTIVE ON THE GROUND

Here are some photos that you will work with again later in this unit. Right now, think about the different sizes shown in the photos.

The table below gives information about John Doe, who is sleeping on a picnic blanket in Chicago.

Size Name Address City State Country Continent Planet Solar System Galaxy Joe Doe 1010 North Tenth Street Chicago Illinois United States North America Earth , Earth s Solar System Milky Way 1.8 meters 120 m2 591 km2 145,934 km2 9,372,571 km2 24,230,000 km2 12,756 km (diameter) 11,800,000,000 km (diameter) 946,000,000,000,000,000 km (diameter)

Population 1 5 2,783,700 11,430,600 248,709,900 454,187,000 5,734,106,000 5,734,106,000 unknown

1. a. Make a table similar to the one above showing your own data for where you live. b. How do the numbers in your table differ from the numbers in John Does table?
Mathematics in Context Powers of Ten

Powers of Ten

A viewer can be made to help you focus your vision on a square region. You will investigate how the size of the region changes as you move the viewer farther away.

Using Student Activity Sheets 1 and 2, construct the viewer you see here. Use scissors to cut the viewer out. Cut along all the solid lines (do not cut along the dotted lines). Fold along the dotted lines to make a pyramid with the top flaps open. Tape the sides together. Attach the bottom square window to the viewer. If you have constructed it correctly, you now have a viewer that looks similar to the drawing on the right. The opening at the top of the pyramid is for you to look through. 2. How long is one side of the bottom window?

Britannica Mathematics System

A. Perspective on the Ground

In this section, you will use your viewer to get a new perspective on the world.

Pyramid: Flaps Closed

Viewer: Flaps Open

Correct Position of Eye

To use the viewer correctly, your eye should be at the top of the viewer, at the point where the flaps would meet if they were closed. Position your eye so that you see the outline of the bottom window, but not the border around it. 3. Put the viewer on a flat surface. a. How could you measure the distance from the top of the viewer to the bottom? b. What is this distance?

Top

Distance from Top to Bottom

Distance from Eye to Bottom

Bottom

Mathematics in Context Powers of Ten

Powers of Ten

Now you will study what you see through the viewer. For the following problems, when looking at a square through the viewer, you should see the complete square but nothing outside of the square. 4. Construct a 1-by-1-meter square on the floor (you can use tape or rope). How high above the floor must the top of the viewer be in order to see the square? 5. Make a 0.5-by-0.5-meter square. How high is the top of the viewer above the floor if you see the complete square through the viewer? Instead of looking down, you will now look at squares that are on a wall. 6. Construct a 2-by-2-meter square on the wall. Look at this square through your viewer. (Be careful to hold the viewer so that the bottom window is parallel to the wall.) How far from the wall is the top of the viewer if you see the complete square through the viewer? (You may have to stand on something or crouch, depending on the position of the square.) 7. Construct a 1.5-by-1.5-meter square on the wall. a. Estimate the distance from the top of the viewer to the wall if you see the complete square through the viewer. b. Measure to see how accurate your estimate is. 8. a. Make a table to summarize the results of problems 47. Label your columns Distance from Viewer and Size of Square. b. Suppose you have a 4-by-4-meter square on the floor. Use the results of the table to determine how high the top of the viewer must be in order to see the whole square.

Britannica Mathematics System

A. Perspective on the Ground

You may have noticed a pattern in the table you made in problem 8a. When you double the lengths of the sides of the square, the distance from the top of the viewer to the square also doubles.

3m

3m 3m

3m 6m

3m 6m

9. How high above the floor would the top of the viewer have to be in order to see your whole classroom floor through the viewer? 10. Finish the following viewer rule, which explains how the size of the square and the distance from the top of the viewer to the square are related: The higher you are, the the square that you see. ?

Mathematics in Context Powers of Ten

Powers of Ten

Summary
In this section, you used a pyramid-shaped viewer to look at differentsize squares. You discovered that there is a relationship between the length of the sides of the square you see through the viewer and the distance between the top of the viewer and the square.

Summary Questions
11. Describe the relationship between the size of a square and the distance from the top of the viewer to the square. In the illustration below, the top of the viewer (enlarged in the circle on the right) is 2.75 meters above the floor.

12. How long are the sides of the square that are visible on the floor?

2.75m

Britannica Mathematics System

B. CHANGING PERSPECTIVE

Andrea and Brian are taking a balloon trip. They are going to experiment with their viewers during the trip. Shown below is an aerial photograph of the area that the balloon will fly over. The lift-off spot is in the center of an oval racetrack.

2,000 m 1,800 m 1,600 m 1,400 m 1,200 m 1,000 m 800 m 600 m 400 m 200 m 0m

Mathematics in Context Powers of Ten

Powers of Ten

Because there is no wind, the balloon rises straight up. At a height of 350 meters, Andrea leans over the side and looks straight down through her viewer. She sees the region inside the white square in the photograph below.
2,000 m 1,800 m 1,600 m 1,400 m 1,200 m 1,000 m 800 m 600 m 400 m 200 m 0m

1. a. Without using the scale and the photograph, determine the dimensions of the square region that Andrea sees. Explain how you found your answer. b. Use the scale to determine the length and the width of the square region. Compare this answer to your answer for part a. 2. What are the approximate length and width measurements of the oval racetrack? The balloon rises to a height of 700 meters. Brian looks straight down through his viewer. 3. Draw the square that he sees on the photograph on Student Activity Sheet 3. Write the dimensions next to the side of the square. The balloon rises to a height of 1,400 meters. Andrea looks through her viewer. 4. On Student Activity Sheet 3, draw the square that Andrea sees through her viewer. Label its dimensions. 8
Britannica Mathematics System

B. Changing Perspective

During the trip, the balloon rises higher and higher. Each time the height doubles, Andrea and Brian notice that the dimensions of the square region they see through the viewer doubles, too. You can represent this pattern using arrow language, as shown below.
2 2

350 meters 700 meters

5. Continue the pattern up to a height of 2,800 meters. At a height of 2,800 meters, the square region that Andrea and Brian see measures 2,800 by 2,800 meters. There is enough oxygen in the air to breath up to an elevation of about 11,000 meters. Suppose Andrea and Brian continue to rise beyond 2,800 meters. 6. a. Add more steps to the arrow language pattern you wrote for problem 5 until you exceed 11,000 meters. b. Describe the dimensions of square regions seen at each of these additional steps.

Mathematics in Context Powers of Ten

Powers of Ten

The photo on the left shows what Andrea and Brian saw through the viewer window from a height of 350 meters. Below the photo is a simplified drawing of the racetrack.

The racetrack is actually two semi-circles connected to a square. 7. Measure, in millimeters, the dimensions of the square part of the racetrack on the simplified drawing.

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B. Changing Perspective
When the balloon rose to a height of 700 meters, Andrea and Brian were twice as high as when they last looked through the viewer. Each side of the square seen through the viewer was twice as long. The track appeared half as long and half as wide as it did at 350 meters. 8. On a sheet of paper, draw two 10-centimeter squares to represent the viewer window. a. In the first 10-centimeter square, draw a square that represents the inner square of the racetrack as seen from 700 meters. b. In the second 10-centimeter square, draw a square that represents the inner square of the racetrack as seen from 1,400 meters. c. Write an arrow string showing how the width of the racetrack changes as the viewer height moves from 350 meters to 2,800 meters.

Summary
As you go higher in the balloon, you see more land through the viewer. At the same time, the objects in your viewer window get smaller. As the height of the balloon doubles, the length of each side of the square region in the viewer window follows this pattern:
2 2 2

350 meters 700 meters 1,400 meters 2,800 meters

At the same time, the length and width of the racetrack as seen through the viewer window follows the reverse pattern.

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Powers of Ten

Summary, continued
From gliders, hot air balloons, helicopters, and airplanes, you can get an aerial view of the world around you. The higher these vehicles travel, the bigger the area that can be seen below them. Look at the lines extending from each vehicle on the right. These are vision lines that show the area of ground visible through a viewer from each vehicles height. Once again, you can see that the higher the elevation, the bigger the area that can be seen.

Summary Questions
9. Suppose that from an elevation of 2,000 meters, you see an object on the ground that appears to be 100 millimeters long. a. At what elevation will it appear to be 50 millimeters long? b. At what elevation will it appear to be 75 millimeters long?

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C. HIGH PERSPECTIVES

Imagine that Andrea and Brian take a trip on a spaceship that is equipped with an automatic camera. It takes photographs of Earth from the following heights: 1 meter, 10 meters, 100 meters, 1 kilometer (1,000 meters), and so on. Each photograph is taken from a position that is 10 times higher than the previous one (instead of two times higher, as in the balloon ride).

A viewer, similar to the one you used in Sections A and B, is attached to the front of the camera so that all the photographs are squares. Shown above, on the right, is the first photograph, taken while the spaceship was in its position for takeoff. The camera lens is exactly 1 meter above the ground and directly over a man who is peacefully sleeping on a blanket in a park in Chicago, Illinois. 1. The ship rises to a final height of 1,000,000,000 kilometers (1,000,000,000,000 meters) above its starting point. a. Finish the following description in arrow language for the entire trip: 1 meter 10 meters b. How many arrows are in your completed diagram? c. How could you have predicted the number of arrows needed to complete the diagram?
Mathematics in Context Powers of Ten 10 10

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Powers of Ten

Student Activity Sheet 4 contains the remaining 12 photographs that were taken by the spaceships automatic camera at the predetermined heights. These photographs are not positioned in the order in which they were taken. (Remember that the first photograph, shown on page 13, was taken from a height of 1 meter above the ground. Each successive photograph was taken from a position 10 times higher than the one before.) 2. a. Label each photograph with a number from 2 to 13 to indicate the order in which the photographs were taken. b. Label each photograph with the height from which the picture was taken. Also label the length of a side of the square region that is pictured in the photograph. Imagine that the spaceship travels at an average speed of 20,000 kilometers per hour. At this speed, it would take half an hour to reach a height of 10,000 kilometers. 3. a. How long after the spaceship left the ground would it take to reach a height of 100,000 kilometers? 1,000,000 kilometers? 10,000,000 kilometers? b. Use your results from part a to complete the following arrow string, which shows the travel time to each height beginning at 10,000 kilometers: Travel Time: hour Position: 10,000 km
10 ?

hours

10

hours

10

100,000 km

1,000,000 km

c. Which of the photographs on Student Activity Sheet 4 could have been taken if the spaceship had traveled for only one year?

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C. High Perspectives

As you can see from the pattern in the arrow string you just completed, every time you multiply a whole number by 10, one zero is added to the number. Example: 948,566 9,485,660 94,856,600 However, when you multiply a decimal by 10, the result is somewhat different. 4. Copy and complete the following arrow strings using your calculator: a. 3.5 ? ? ? 10 10 b. 4.875 ? ? 5. What are the similarities and differences between multiplying a whole number by 10 and multiplying a decimal by 10? The problem 345,982 34,598,200 results in the same answer as 345,982 3,459,820 34,598,200. 6. Find the product of 5.65 each arrow. 1,000 by writing an arrow string with 10 over
10 10 100 10 10 10 10 10

7. Calculate the following without using a calculator: a. 1,000 b. 1,000 c. 1,000 d. 1,000 10 10

1,000 1,000 100,000 1,000,000 100 100

e. 1,000,000 f. 6.37 g. 98.235 h. 0.57892 i. 65.003 100

100,000 1,000 10,000

8. a. Use numbers such as 10, 100, 1,000, and so on, to write five different multiplication problems for which the answer is 1,000,000. b. Write five more multiplication problems similar to those in part a, but for which the answer is 2,270,000.

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Powers of Ten
The chart on the right shows the heights from which the 13 photographs were taken, on page 13 and Student Activity Sheet 4, in numerals and words. Notice that commas separate each group of three digits. This is done to make the numbers easy to read. The number 2,638,577, for example, is read as two million, six hundred thirty-eight thousand, five hundred seventy-seven. 9. a. How many thousands are there in one million?

Heights (in meters)

Numerals 1 10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000 10,000,000 100,000,000 1,000,000,000 10,000,000,000 100,000,000,000 1,000,000,000,000 Words one ten one hundred one thousand ten thousand one hundred thousand one million ten million one hundred million one billion ten billion one hundred billion one trillion

b. How many thousands are there in one billion? c. How many millions are there in one billion? 10. For the following problems, write your answers using words: a. one million times ten b. one hundred times one hundred c. one thousand times one thousand The next group of numbers after billions has a new nametrillions. One trillion is 1,000,000,000,000. 11. a. How many times must you multiply 1,000,000,000 by 10 to get one trillion? b. What single number must 1,000,000,000 be multiplied by in order to get one trillion? One thousand trillions equal one quadrillion. 12. Write one quadrillion as a numeral. Numbers like the ones you have been looking at (numbers made up of a 1 followed by zeros) are called powers of 10. For powers of 10, you can find the number of times that you multiply 1 by 10 by counting the number of zeros. There are five zeros in 100,000, and it takes five multiplications by 10starting from 1 to get a result of 100,000. 1 10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000
10 10 10 10 10

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C. High Perspectives
To save time writing and counting all of the zeros in powers of 10, you can use a special notation. Using exponential notation, 100,000 can be written as 105, and 10,000,000 can be written as 107. Exponential Notation Example A: 100,000 1 10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 so 100,000 = 10 Example B: 10,000,000 10,000,000 = 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 = 107 10 10 10 10 which can be written as 105
10 10 10 10 10

13. Why do you think 100,000 is written as 105 and 10,000,000 is written as 107 in exponential notation? In 105 and 107, the 10 is called the base, and the 5 and 7 are called the exponents. 14. Write the following numbers in exponential notation: a. 1,000 b. 1,000,000,000 c. 10,000,000,000

15. Write out each of these exponential numbers as numerals. a. 104 b. 101 c. 106

Numbers with bases other than 10 can also be written with exponents. For example, 2 Also, 3 3 3 2 3 2 2 = 24. For 24, the base is 2, and the exponent is 4.

3 can be written as 35. b. What is the exponent in 35? e. Calculate 53. c. Calculate 24.

16. a. What is the base in 35? d. Calculate 35.

17. Calculate ac below and write the answer in exponential form. a. 104 10 b. 108 100 c. 1011 1,000

d. What happens to the exponent of a power of 10 each time you multiply by 10? 18. Calculate the following and write the answer in exponential form: a. 106 d. 103 102 108 b. 106 e. 104 103 103 103 c. 108 103

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Powers of Ten

In this section, you work with some very large numbers. Now you will explore just how large some of these numbers really are. 19. a. About how old is a person who is a million seconds old? Explain. b. About how old is a person who is a billion seconds old? Explain your strategy. c. What happened about a million days ago? Explain how you found your answer. 20. a. Approximately how far would you walk if you took 109 steps? Explain how you found your answer. b. Suppose the below line segment represents the distance you can travel in 1,000 steps. Copy the line and label approximately where you would be after 101, 102, and 103 steps.

0 steps
21. How high is a stack of one million dollars in: a. one-dollar bills? b. ten-dollar bills? c. one hundreddollar bills? 22. a. How high is a stack of one million quarters? b. How much money does one million quarters represent?

1,000 steps

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C. High Perspectives

23. How big a room would you need to store 106 bricks? 24. Suppose you attach a small counter to your bicycle. It starts at zero and counts the number of times the front wheel turns. How far have you ridden if the counter is now at 106? 25. Suppose you want to fill a room (such as the principals office or your classroom) with balloons for a surprise party. a. How many balloons do you have to buy? What assumptions did you make to figure this out? b. How much would the balloons cost? Explain your answer. c. How much time and how many people would it take to blow up the balloons?

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Powers of Ten

Summary
In this section, you learned that multiplying a whole number by 10 adds a zero to the end of the number. 1 10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000 You also learned that when you multiply a decimal number by 10, the decimal point moves one place to the right. 3.785 37.85 378.5 Repeated multiplication can be written in exponential notation. 1,000,000 = 10 10 10 10 10 10 = 106
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

You also solved problems involving large numbers, sometimes expressed as powers of 10. In many of the problems, you used estimations. Sometimes you estimated at the beginning of the problem, for example, in finding the size of a brick or the size of a bicycle tire. Other times, the estimation came at the end of the problem, when you rounded off the answer.

Summary Questions
26. You have found by calculation that 106 102 = 108.

a. How could you have determined that the answer has an exponent of 8 without performing the calculation? b. Write a rule for multiplying with powers of 10. Does your rule work for all parts of problem 18? c. Does your rule apply to 23 25?

d. Calculate 52 103. Does your rule work in this case? Why or why not? 27. How much bigger is one billion than one million? 28. Make up your own problem similar to problems 1925 that shows the size of a million, and solve it. 20
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D. THE 10-MACHINE

On the right, you see the 10-machine. Study the drawing carefully. In the starting position, you see the number 1 on the tape.

If you turn the handle one turn in the indicated direction, this number is multiplied by 10, and the result is shown on the tape.

Mathematics in Context Powers of Ten

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Powers of Ten

If you give the handle another turn, the number on the tape is again multiplied by 10, and the result is 100. You can continue this process. Each time you turn the handle, the number is multiplied by 10.

1. Beginning at the starting position, how many times would you have to turn the handle to get 10,000,000? 2. a. Beginning at the starting position, how many times would you have to turn the handle to get a number equal to 106? b. If 106 were on the tape, how many times would you have to turn the handle to get 109? 3. a. Calculate 103 105. 105 using the 10-machine.

b. Explain how you could calculate 103 c. Calculate 103 103 103.

4. The tape on the machine shows the number 100,000. The handle is turned backward once, and the tape moves back into the machine one position. a. What arithmetic operation was performed as a result of turning the handle backward? b. How do you divide a number by 100 with the 10-machine? 5. The tape on the machine shows the number 100,000,000. a. How could you divide this number by 103 using the 10-machine? b. What is 100,000,000 103?

6. Jeannie wants to show the answer to 107 100 using the 10-machine. Describe what she has to do from the starting position (when the tape shows 1).

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D. The 10-Machine
7. a. How could you calculate 105 103 on the 10-machine? Describe the steps that you would take from the starting position. b. What is the answer to 105 exponential notation? 103 written in

8. Write and answer three problems similar to problems 6 and 7. In Section C, you discovered a multiplication rule for numbers written in exponential notation. You discovered that you can simply add the exponents when multiplying two numbers with the same base. 9. Write a division rule for powers of 10. 10. Calculate the following and write your answers using exponential notation: a. 107 b. 108 c. 107 105 104 106 107 using your division

11. a. Calculate 107 rule.

b. What answer would the 10-machine give for 107 107? c. What is the value of 100? Suppose the 10-machine starts with an 8 instead of a 1. 12. a. What number does the tape show after three turns forward? b. If the tape on the machine shows the number 8,000, what number does the tape show after two turns backward? 13. a. What number does the tape show if it starts with 3.567 and you turn it forward one time? b. two times? c. eight times?
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Powers of Ten

Summary
The 10-machine shows the results of multiplying and dividing by powers of 10. Each time you turn the machines handle forward, the number is multiplied by 10. If the number on the tape is a whole number, an additional zero is added on the end. Each time you turn the handle backward, the number is divided by 10. If the number is a whole number with zeros on the end, the last zero is removed. By working with the 10-machine, you discovered the following division rule for powers of 10: To divide numbers written in exponential notation with the same base, subtract the exponents. Example: 105 103 102 (5 3 2)

By using the 10-machine and the rules for division, you discovered that 100 1. Example: 109 109 100 1 (9 9 0)

Summary Questions
14. Suppose the tape shows the number 5,283. How many times do you have to turn the 10-machine handle backward for the tape to show a number between 1 and 10? 15. In a medical laboratory, a certain liquid contains 1012 bacteria. One drop of antiseptic kills 109 bacteria. How many drops are needed to destroy all of the bacteria?

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E. OTHER LARGE NUMBERS

The Diameter of the Sun

1,392,000 139,200 13,920 1 10 100 1,392,000 139,200 13,920 10o 101 102

The diameter of the Sun is approximately 1,392,000 kilometers. The table on the left shows different ways to write this number. 1. Copy the table in your notebook and fill in the missing numbers. 2. Science books often list the distance from Jupiter to the Sun as 7.78 108 kilometers. Is this distance the same as 778,000,000 kilometers? Why or why not?

13.92 1.392

This method of writing a number as a product of a number between 1 and 10 and a power of 10 is called scientific notation. 3. The distance from Earth to the Moon is approximately 384,000 kilometers. Write this number in as many different ways as you can.

The table on Student Activity Sheet 5 shows the diameters of the planets in the solar system and the average distances from the planets to the Sun, based on their orbits. 4. Fill in the missing numbers in the table. 5. Which is the smallest planet in the solar system? the largest? 6. List the planets in the order of their distance from the Sun.

Jupiter, as seen from the Voyager I spacecraft on February 13, 1979. Two of Jupiters moons, Io, on the left, and Europa, on the right, can also be seen. Mathematics in Context Powers of Ten

25

Courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Powers of Ten

Many calculators use scientific notation to show large numbers. In the next problem, you will investigate how your calculator uses scientific notation. 7. a. Enter the number 243 on your calculator and then as many zeros as you can until the display is full. Write down the number that is displayed. (Note: Not every calculator will have the same display.) b. Multiply this number by five without using your calculator. c. Multiply this number by five using the calculator. What does your calculator display as the answer? The answer to the multiplication problem above is too big for the calculators display. To show the result of the multiplication, the calculator switched to scientific notation. 8. Explain how your calculator shows a number in scientific notation.

Saturn, as seen from the Voyager I spacecraft on October 5, 1980. At this time, Voyager I was over 1.5 billion kilometers from Earth.

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Courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

E. Other Large Numbers

In this activity, you are going to build a scale model of the solar system. To do this, you will have to represent distances in the solar system with smaller distances, using a scale. Because the solar system is so big, use the scale of 1 : 10,000,000,000 (1 : 1010). 9. a. Write the scale using words. b. What does the scale 1 : 10,000,000,000 mean? Refer to the table on Student Activity Sheet 5 for the diameters of the planets and their distances from the Sun. You are going to construct a circle to represent the Sun using a scale of 1 : 10,000,000,000. Here are some questions to help you. 10. a. How many meters are in a kilometer? b. How many centimeters are in a meter? c. How many centimeters are in a kilometer? d. How many centimeters are in 1,392,000 kilometers? e. What is the size of the Sun on a scale of 1 : 10,000,000,000? f. Construct a circle representing the Sun on a scale of 1 : 10,000,000,000. 11. a. Calculate the sizes of Earth and Jupiter on this scale. b. Construct circles for Earth and Jupiter using this scale. 12. The distance between Earth and the Moon is 384,000 kilometers. What is this distance in your scale model? 13. What is the distance between the Sun and Mercury in your scale model? 14. On Student Activity Sheet 6, there are circles for the other planets based on this scale. Cut them out and arrange them in the order of their distance from the Sun. 15. Adjust your model so that the distances between the planets are also to scale.

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Powers of Ten

There is a science park in Westerbork, Holland, which has a scale model of our solar system. In the center of the park is a ball that represents the Sun, the center of the solar system. To get an idea of the size of this ball, compare it to the womans arm in the photograph on the right.

Pictured on the right is an information board, written in Dutch, which is at the entrance to the park. (The translation appears below.) Based on the scale in the park, Pluto is a very tiny ball on a pole, covered by a transparent cap.

You are now entering a model of our solar system by passing the orbit of the outermost planet number 9 PLUTO scale 1 : 3,700,000,000 1 mm 3,700 km in the universe so every step 2.5 million km

Pluto

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E. Other Large Numbers

The sign at the entrance to the park shows the scale of the solar system model as 1 : 3,700,000,000. Distances in the actual solar system are 3.7 billion times as big as the distances in the park model. 16. Suppose you are walking through the park and you take 1-meter steps. a. What distance (in kilometers) in the solar system does 1 meter in the park represent? b. How many 1-meter steps does it take to walk from Earth to the Sun in the park? c. How many 1-meter steps does it take to walk from Neptune to the Sun in the park? We have been using the approximation of one meter for the length of a step. The sign on page 28 says that every step in the park equals 2.5 million kilometers. 17. How does that step compare to our one-meter step? The largest planet in the solar system is Jupiter; it is 143,000 kilometers in diameter. In the scale model in the park, Jupiter is a little ball, as shown on the right. Its diameter is about 4 centimeters. 18. Using the scale posted at the entrance to the park, check whether or not the model of Jupiter is the correct size. In the park model, the Earth, shown below on the right, is much smaller than Jupiter. On scale, it is so small that a protective cap has been put over it. 19. Calculate the diameter of the model for Earth. 20. If Pluto is at the park entrance and the Sun is at the center of the park, how many 1-meter steps does it take to walk from the parks entrance to its center?

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Powers of Ten

Summary
This section was about very large numbers. You worked with a special notation to write very large numbers using powers of 10. Example: 1,390,000 139 104 or 13.9 105 or 1.39 106

This last notation (1.39 106) is called scientific notation. It is written as a number between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of 10. Most calculators switch to scientific notation if a number is too big for the normal display.

Summary Questions
21. What are the advantages of using scientific notation to write big numbers? 22. Write the following numbers in scientific notation: a. 3,875,000 b. 2,968,000,000 c. 0.038 d. 57 107

105

23. Write the following numbers without exponents: a. 2.5 b. 3.472 102 106

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F. SMALL NUMBERS
Many common household products must be diluted before you use them. For example, you dilute detergent with water before you wash dishes. You dilute chlorine with water in a swimming pool before you go swimming. You dilute condensed soup with milk or water before you eat it.

To illustrate the dilution process, you will dilute food coloring with water in this activity. Pour 1 ounce of food coloring into a container and add 9 ounces of water to it. This will make a 10-ounce solution. Stir the solution. 1. What portion of the solution is food coloring? What portion is water? Pour 1 ounce of the solution into an empty measuring container. Add enough water to make 10 ounces. Stir the solution. 2. What portion of this second solution is food coloring? Pour 1 ounce of this second solution into another empty measuring container. Add enough water to make 10 ounces of solution. Stir the solution. 3. What portion of this third solution is food coloring? 4. Suppose that you repeated this process again. What portion of the fourth solution would be food coloring? 5. Copy and complete the table on the right for six dilutions. 6. Suppose the table extended up to 20 dilutions. What portion of the solution from 12 dilutions would be food coloring? from 20 dilutions?

Number of Dilutions 1 2 3 4 5 6

Portion of Food Coloring 0.1 0.01

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Powers of Ten

You have probably found that it is just as tedious to write very small numbers as it is to write very large numbers. An abbreviation system like the one that you have been using with very large numbers is convenient for very small numbers as well. When you were diluting food coloring, you divided the portion of food coloring in each solution by 10. Below, you can see what this pattern looks like using arrow language. 0.1 0.01 0.001 ? 7. Copy and complete the above pattern until you reach the sixth dilution. 8. The arrow string below shows 10,000 repeatedly divided by 10. 10,000 1,000 100 ? a. Copy and continue the pattern until you have eight arrows. b. Explain this arrow string in terms of the 10-machine from Section D. This pattern of dividing by 10 can be displayed vertically. 9. Copy the pattern shown below in a column in your notebook. Write the numbers as powers of 10 next to the numbers in your notebook. Do this only for the numbers for which you know the power of 10.
10 10 10 10 10 10

10,000
10

104

1,000
10

100
10

10
10

1
10

0.1
10

0.01
10

0.001
10

0.0001
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F. Small Numbers

10. a. What pattern do you see for the powers of 10 in problem 9? b. How could the pattern be continued? c. Explain why 100 = 1. 11. a. Suppose you have a solution that is 10 dilutions have taken place?
4

food coloring. How many

6

b. How many dilutions have taken place if the solution is 10

food coloring?

c. What portion of the solution is food coloring if you have done five dilutions? Write this number as a power of 10. d. Describe the relationship between the number of dilutions and the portion of the solution that is food coloring. 12. Think about diluting the seventh solution to make the eighth solution. (Remember that each dilution involves dividing by 10.) a. What portion of the seventh solution is food coloring? b. What portion of the eighth solution is food coloring? c. What is 10 d. What is 10
7 6

10 written as a power of a 10? 100? (Hint: Dividing by 100 is two dilutions.)

1 ounce

9 ounces 10 ounces

Stir it up

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Powers of Ten

Summary
Very small numbers may also be written using exponential notation. Negative powers of 10 fit the same pattern as positive powers of 10.

10 10 10 10 10

1 2

= 0.1 = 0.01 3 = 0.001 4 = 0.0001 5 = 0.00001

Summary Questions
13. Write a description of what you have learned about powers of 10 and exponential notation. Include examples to illustrate your points.

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TRY THIS! Section A. Perspective on the Ground

In Section A, you constructed a pyramid-shaped viewer to look at squares. With this viewer, the distance from the top of the viewer to the square is always the same as the length of a side of the square. The following table contains measurements that were made with a different viewer. This viewer is also pyramid-shaped, but its dimensions are different from the viewer you made in Section A.

Distance from Viewer (in meters) 4 8 12

Length of Side of Square (in meters) 2 4 6

1. In your notebook, copy the table and fill in two additional distances and their corresponding lengths. 2. Describe the relationship between the distances to the top of the viewer and the lengths of the sides of the squares. 3. Make a drawing of this viewer in your notebook. Label the viewers dimensions in your drawing. 4. If the length of a side of the bottom window is 7 centimeters, what is the height of the viewer?

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Powers of Ten

Section B. Changing Perspective

Sara is riding in a balloon in order to experiment with her viewer. (She is using the same viewer that you used in Sections A and B.) Shown below is an aerial view of the farm that Sara flies over. The area marked by the square is what Sara sees through her viewer when the balloon reaches a height of 100 meters.
400 m

300 m

200 m

100 m

0m

1. In your notebook, describe how you could determine the dimensions of the above square region without using the scale. 2. What are the dimensions of the square region? Use the scale to check your answer. 3. In your notebook, draw the square that Sara would see from a height of 200 meters. 4. Write an arrow string that shows the change in the dimensions of the square as the height of the balloon doubles. Continue this pattern for a total of five steps. 5. If the height of the balloon has doubled eight times since Sara looked through her viewer at a height of 100 meters, what are the dimensions of the square that she sees now?

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Try This!

Section C. High Perspectives

1. Calculate the following and write your answers in exponential notation, as a numeral, and in words: a. 104 103 10,000 b. one thousand d. two hundred f. 2 103 one million three thousand

c. 1,000,000 e. 20 400

5 x 102

2. How large is one million? Express your answer in terms of the dimensions of a familiar object or group of objects.

Section D. The 10-Machine

Recall that the 10-machine shows the results of multiplying and dividing by 10. Suppose that another machine, the 3-machine, shows the results of multiplying and dividing by three. The 3-machine works differently than the 10-machine. Because the 3-machine multiplies and divides by three, it does not just add or remove zeros. The 3-machine generates the following numbers each time its handle is turned forward: 1 3 9 27 81 243

1. How many times was the handle turned after the number 1 was displayed? The numbers generated by the 3-machine can also be written as the following: 30 31 32 33 34 35

2. What is the result if the handle is turned forward once more? Write your answer in digits and in exponential notation. 3. In your notebook, describe the following problems in terms of the 3-machine and then solve the problems: a. 32 34 b. 35 32 c. 37 37

4. Write a rule for multiplying and dividing numbers that are powers of three. Be sure to describe what happens to the exponents.

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Powers of Ten

Section E. Other Large Numbers

Recall that there are 10 millimeters in a centimeter, 100 centimeters in a meter, and 1,000 meters in a kilometer. In your notebook, explain whether or not the following equations are correct. If an equation is incorrect, rewrite it so that it is correct. 1. 3,000,000 mm 2. 2.34 km 3. 15,000 m 23.4 1.5 30 km 104 cm 103 km 3.65 83 108 mm

4. 365 million cm 5. 8.3 105 cm

107 m

Section F. Small Numbers

Calculate the following and write your answers in exponential notation, as a numeral, and in words: 1. 104 107 one million

2. one thousandth 3. 1,000,000

10,000 three thousandths

4. six hundredths 5. 40 6. 10 200 103 5

108

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CREDITS
Cover
Design by Ralph Paquet/Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc. Collage by Koorosh Jamalpur/KJ Graphics.

Title Page
POWERS OF TEN by Eames and Morrison. Copyright 1982 by Scientific American Library. Reprinted with permission of W. H. Freeman and Company.

Illustrations
vi (top) Phil Geib/Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.; 23 Paul Tucker/Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.; 4 Phil Geib/Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.; 7 Dave Alexovich/Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.; 8 Paul Tucker/Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.; 9 Phil Geib/Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.; 11 Paul Tucker/Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.; 1314 Dave Alexovich/Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.; 1819, 2124, 3234, 36 Phil Geib/Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.

Photographs
Photographs on pages 1, 13 from POWERS OF TEN by Eames and Morrison. Copyright 1982 by Scientific American Library. Reprinted with permission of W. H. Freeman and Company; 7, 8, 10 Topografische Dienst, Emmen; 2829 Jan Auke de Jong.

Encyclopdia Britannica, the thistle logo, and Mathematics in Context are registered trademarks of Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc. Other brand and product names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Mathematics in Context Powers of Ten

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