Scientific Notation Tutorial

The Standard Form for Scientific Notation

Here are the answers:

0.00007

7 X 0.00001

7 X 10-5

0.027

27 X 0.001

27 X 10-3

0.0000000000003

3 X 0.0000000000001

3 X 10-13

There are many different ways to write a number in scientific notation. All of the following are correct ways to write 570,000:

  • 570 X 1,000 = 570 X 103

  • 57 X 10,000 = 57 X 104

  • 5.7 X 100,000 = 5.7 X 105

The last version is called the standard form, and is the easiest form to use for computations. This is how the standard form look in general:

(single digit).(rest of digits) X 10(exponent)

Therefore the coefficient in the standard form is a number between 1 and 10. You should try to place a number in the standard form for most computations.

How did we get 570,000 into the standard form? Here's one way:

570,000 = 570 X 1000 = 570 X 103= 570 X 10 X 10 X 10

570 = 57 X 10 = 5.70 X 10 X 10

So 570,000 = 5.7 X 10 X 10 X 10 X 10 X 10 = 5.7 X 105

Which of the numbers below is the expression in the standard form for the number 3,930,000?

393 X 104

39.3 X 105

3.93 X 106

3.93 X 104

 

Questions? Ask the designer, Jim Heath

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