Scientific Notation

Source: Mathematics | 2002 | Hall, Brook E. |

Scientific notation is a method of writing very large and very small numbers. Ordinary numbers are useful for everyday measurement, such as daily temperatures and automobile speeds, but for large measurements like astronomical distances, scientific notation provides a way to express these numbers in a short and concise way. The basis of scientific notation is the power of ten. Since many large and small numbers have a few integers with many zeros, the power of ten can be used to shorten the length of the written number. A number written in scientific notation has two parts. The first part is a number between 1 and 10, and the second part is a power of ten. Mathematically, writing a number in scientific notation is the expression of the number in the form n 10x where n is a number greater than 1 but less than 10 and x is an exponent of 10. An example is 15,653 written as 1.5653 104. This type of notation is also used for very small numbers such as 0.0000000072, which, in scientific notation, is rewritten as 7.2 10 9. Some examples of measurements where scientific notation becomes useful follow.

The wavelength for violet light is 40-millionths of a centimeter 4 105cm. Some black holes are measured by the amount of solar masses they could contain. One black hole was measured as 10,000,000 or 1.0 107 solar masses . The weight of an alpha particle, which is emitted in the radioactive decay of Plutonium-239, is 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,006,645 kilograms (6.645 10 27 kilograms). A computer hard disk could hold 4 gigabytes (about 4,000,000,000 bytes) of information. That is 4.0 109 bytes. Computer calculation speeds are often measured in nanoseconds. A nanosecond is 0.000000001 seconds, or 1.0 109 seconds.

Converting Numbers into Scientific Notation Complete the following steps to convert large and small numbers into scientific notation. First, identify the significant digits and move the decimal place to the right or left so that only one integer is on the left side of the decimal. Rewrite the number with the new decimal place and include only the identified significant digits. Then, following the number, write a multiplication sign and the number 10. Raise the 10 to the exponent that represents the number of places you moved the decimal point. If the number is large and you moved the decimal point to the left, the exponent is positive. Conversely, if the number is small and you moved the decimal point to the right, the exponent is negative. If a chemist is trying to discuss the number of electrons expected in a sample of atoms, the number may be 1,100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Using three significant figures the number is written 1.10 10 27. Along the same lines the weight of a particular chemical may be 0.0000000000000000000721 grams. In scientific notation the example would be written 7.21 1020

SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
Source:The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008
Scientific notation means of expressing very large or very small numbers in a compact form that is easy to use in computations. In this notation, any number is expressed as a number between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of 10 that indicates the correct position of the decimal point in the original number; numbers greater than 10 are expressed by positive powers of 10 and numbers less than 1 are expressed by negative powers of 10 . For example, 43,700 is written in scientific notation as 4.37 10 4 and 0.00526 as 5.26 10 -3. The larger the converted number, the more compactness is achieved: for example, the speed of light, about 30,000,000,000 cm per sec, becomes 3 10
10

cm per sec.

Calculations are greatly simplified by use of scientific notation: the first parts of a pair of numbers to be multiplied or divided are combined manually or by slide rule and the powers of 10 are added or subtracted in accordance with the rules for exponents. If the first part of the result is greater than 10, an adjustment is made. For example, in order to multiply 832,000 by 0.00035, one converts first to scientific notation as follows: (832,000)(0.00035)=(8.3210 5 )(3.510 -4 )=8.323.510 5 10 -4 =29.1210 1 =2.91210 2 (in scientific notation) or 291.2 (in ordinary notation).

Scientific Notation Operations Using Exponents By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., About.com Guide Source: http://chemistry.about.com/od/convertcalculate/a/scientificnote.htm Scientists and engineers often work with very large or very small numbers, which are more easily expressed in exponential form or scientific notation. You write a very large number in scientific notation by moving the decimal point to the left until only one digit remains to the left. The number of moves of the decimal point gives you the exponent. For example: 3,454,000 = 3.454 x 106 For very small numbers, you move the decimal point to the right until only one digit remains to the left of the decimal point. The number of moves to the right gives you a negative exponent: 0.0000005234 = 5.234 x 10-7 Addition Example Using Scientific Notation Addition and subtraction problems are handled the same way. 1. 2. 3. Write the numbers to be added or subtracted in scientific notation. Add or subtract the first part of the numbers, leaving the exponent portion unchanged. Make sure your final answer is written in scientific notation.

(1.1 x 103) + (2.1 x 103) = 3.2 x 103 Subtraction Example Using Scientific Notation (5.3 x 10-4) - (2.2 x 10-4) = 3.1 x 10-4

Continuation -> Multiplication Example Using Scientific Notation You do not have to write numbers to be multiplied and divided so that they have the same exponents. You can multiply the first numbers in each expression and add the exponents of 10 for multiplication problems. (2.3 x 105)(5.0 x 10-12) = When you multiply 2.3 and 5.3 you get 11.5. When you add the exponents you get 10-7. At this point your answer is: 11.5 x 10-7 You want to express your answer in scientific notation, which has only one digit to the left of the decimal point, so the answer should be rewritten as: 1.15 x 10-6 Division Example Using Scientific Notation In division, you subtract the exponents of 10. (2.1 x 10-2) / (7.0 x 10-3) = 0.3 x 101 = 3

What is Scientific Notation?

Written by: Kathy Foust Edited by: Noreen Gunnell Updated Apr 18, 2010 Source: http://www.brighthub.com/education/homework-tips/articles/67887.aspx Scientific notation and significant numbers often go hand in hand. Read this article to understand how to use scientific notation alone and as a component of significant figures. Scientific Notation Scientific notation is also known as powers-of-10 notation. Often, in science, large and very small numbers are used and the concept of significant figures is applied so that the answer can be understood without every number actually written out. However, sometimes just looking at these numbers can be quite confusing. Some examples of scientific notation are written below.

103 10-3

Scientific notation will always be used in relation to multiplying a number by ten. Here are some extended examples of this method

2.3 x 103 2.3 x 10-3

Read the next section to find out the specifics of scientific notation and how it helps you with significant figures. Using Scientific Notation Scientific notation can either be used to express very large or very small numbers. The size of the number is expressed by the power of the number. Positive powers are used to express large numbers while negative powers are used to express small numbers. The power of the number tells you how many zeros are after or before the decimal point.

Continuation ->
For example, 104 is actually 10 x 10 x 10 x 10= 10,000 In contrast, 10-4 is actually 1/104 = 1/10,000 = 0.0001 In both instances, the power shows you how many zeros are involved in the number. To use scientific notation as a significant number, you first would have to know what the significant figure is. Below is an example of this process. Express the answer to the following problem using significant terms and scientific notation. 3520 x 100 We know the significant amount of numbers in the answer is going to be 3 because 100 is the number with the smallest amount of significant numbers in it. Now we do the problem out. 3520 x 100 = 352000 Since we only need 3 significant numbers in our answer, we use scientific notation to reduce the amount of numbers in our answer. Therefore, the answer would be 352 x 103 Now let's try the problem using negative powers. 352 x .000001 Again, we can see that we need 3 significant numbers in our answer because the smallest amount of numbers in this equation is 3. 352 x .000001= 0.00352 Now we need to use powers of ten to reduce the amount of numbers in the answer. 352 x 10-5 is the answer. Notice that all you really did was move the decimal to the left 5 spaces. This is the easiest way to remember how to use the powers of ten. All you really are doing is moving the decimal point however many places expressed by the power written. You know whether to move it left or right by whether or not the power is negative or positive. If the number is negative as in 10-2, then you would move the decimal point over to the left 2 places. 102 means that you would move the decimal point to the right 2 places.

SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

Source: http://neohumanism.org/s/sc/scientific_notation.html

Scientific notation (standard index notation) is a concise way of recording numbers by integer powers of ten, that is used to record numbers which are notably large or small. Such notation is used to record physical quantities without including trailing, or leading, zeros.

101 = 10 102 = 100 103 = 1000 106 = 1,000,000 109 = 1,000,000,000 1020 = 100,000,000,000,000,000,000

Additionally, 10 raised to a negative integer power -n is equal to 1/10n or, equivalently 0. (n-1 zeros)1:

10-1 = 1/10 = 0.1 10-3 = 1/1000 = 0.001 10-9 = 1/1,000,000,000 = 0.000000001

Therefore, a large number such as 156,234,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 can be concisely recorded as 1.56234 1029, and a small number such as 0.0000000000234 can be written as 2.34 10-11. For example, the distance to the edge of the observable universe is ~4.6 1026m and the mass of a proton is ~1.67 x 10-27kg. Most calculators and many computer programs present very large and very small results in scientific notation; the 10 is usually omitted and the letter E for exponent is used; for example: 1.56234 E29. Note that this is not related to the base of the natural logarithm also commonly denoted by e. Scientific notation is highly useful for quoting physical quantities, as they can only be measured to within certain error limits and so quoting just the digits that are certain (the "significant digits") gives all the information required without wasting space. If a physical quantity is quoted using scientific notation, it is usually assumed to be accurate to the quoted number of digits of precision - for instance if a figure 1.2340 106 metres is quoted, the actual figure is assumed to be between 1,233,950 metres as a lower bound and 1,234,050 metres as an upper bound. However, where precision in such measurements is crucial, much more sophisticated expressions of measurement error must be used.