MAT013
Applied Math I
Procedures
Scientific Notation
Scientific Notation is yet another way to express equivalent values in different form. Just like ½,
0.5, and 50% are all equivalent values, but look different, Scientific Notation gives us a way to
express very large and very small numbers as average numbers multiplied by powers of 10.
The process is this:
Move the decimal point to the right or to the left until there is exactly one
digit to the left.
Count the number of places the decimal point has moved.
Multiply the new number by the appropriate power of 10 to keep the value
equivalent.
Remember:
The new number is between 1 and 10
The power of 10 is positive if you moved the decimal point to the left
The power of 10 is negative if you moved the decimal point to the right
Examples:
283,000
in Scientific Notation is
2.83 x 105
0.000056
in Scientific Notation is
5.60 x 10-5
Note:
The power of 10 represents the number of places moved.
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