SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

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SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
... a way to express very small or very large
numbers that is often used in "scientific"
calculations where the analysis must be very
precise.
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Scientific Notation is a way of writing a number
as a multiplication problem where. the first
number is greater than one but less
than ten and the second number is a power of 10.
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POWERS OF 10
Notice that the negative powers are decimals.
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To Change from Standard Form to Scientific
Notation (1) Place decimal point such that there
is one non-zero digit to the left of the decimal
point.   (2) Count number of decimal places the
decimal has "moved" from the original number. 
This will be the exponent of the 10.   (3) If the
original number was less than 1, the exponent is
negative if the original number was greater than
1, the exponent is positive.
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4,750,000 Use 4.75 (moved 6 decimal
places) answer  4.75 X 106
Example
The original number was greater than 1 so the
exponent is positive.
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0.000789 Use 7.89 (moved 4 decimal
places) answer  7.89 x 10-4 The original number
was less than 1 so the exponent is negative.
Example
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Try these
4 6.15 x 10
61,500
7 8.496 x 10
84,960,000
2 3.21 x 10
321
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Try these
-4 5.27 x 10
0.000527
-7 4 x 10
0.0000004
REMEMBER, the first number must be 1 or more, but
less than 10. That means the first number before
the decimal point can be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
or 9.
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To Change from Scientific Notation to Standard
Form (1) Move decimal point to RIGHT for
POSITIVE exponent of 10.   (2) Move decimal
point to LEFT for NEGATIVE exponent of 10.
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Example
5.024 x 103 answer  5,024   (3 places to
right) Positive exponent- move decimal to the
right.
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Example
1.015 x 10-8 answer  0.00000001015 (8 places to
left) Negative exponent- move decimal to the left.
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Write in standard form try these
5 1.09 x 10
109,000
4 4.2273 x 10
42,273
-3 9.42 x 10
0.00942
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Now turn to the scientific notation page in your
packet. Practice writing numbers in scientific
notation and in standard form. If theres
time, theres a link is a 9 minute video about
powers of ten on the next slide. Its pretty
cool
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Click on the link to play the movie
http//video.google.com80/videoplay?docid8095482
682672703968prgoog-sl
Theres shorter version of this on YouTube
featuring The Simpsons. I dont know if it will
play at school. You may want to search Simpsons
Power of 10 to see it at home.
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vyCfDRvDWid0modere
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