Operations with Scientific
Notation
Warm Up
To add or subtract, rewrite the
numbers to the same power of 10, add
or subtract the multipliers, and rewrite
in scientific notation.
To multiply or divide, multiply or
divide the multipliers, multiply or
divide the powers of 10, and rewrite
the answer in scientific notation.
Operations with scientific notation
can be handled either by
converting the numbers into
standard notation or by keeping
them in scientific notation and
rewriting the powers of 10 using
the properties of exponents.
How do you add, subtract, multiply,
and divide numbers written in
scientific notation?
• To add or subtract, rewrite the numbers to the
same power of 10, add or subtract the
multipliers, and rewrite the answer in
scientific notation.
• To multiply or divide, multiply or divide the
multipliers, use the rules of exponents to
multiply or divide the powers of 10, and
rewrite the answer in scientific notation.
How is multiplying and dividing
numbers in scientific notation different
from adding and subtracting numbers
in scientific notation?
• You can add or subtract numbers written in
scientific notation only if their powers of 10
are the same.
• You can multiply and divide numbers written
in scientific notation that have different
powers. The laws of exponents are used to
combine the powers.
Exit Ticket
Add or subtract. Write your answer in scientific
notation.
1. 3.2 × 10-2 + 3.2 × 10-4 + 2.8 × 1 0-2
2. 5.2 × 104 - 1.5 × 102 - 4.6 × 104
Multiply or divide. Write your answer in scientific
notation.
3. (1.25 × 104)(4 × 104)
4.
𝟒.𝟓 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟐𝟖
𝟑 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟏𝟓
5. Write 7.18 × 10-2 using calculator notation.
6. Write 2.898E15 using scientific notation.