Scientific Notation

[PurpleBTae]

If I am going from standard form to scientific notation, and I am moving the decimal to the right, will I ADD 1 to the exponent or SUBTRACT 1 from the exponent??

 

[PurpleBTae]

Oh wait a minute... It would be ADDING wouldn't it? Okay NVM. I will delete this question.

 

[Deleted member 4993]

If I am going from standard form to scientific notation, and I am moving the decimal to the right, will I ADD 1 to the exponent or SUBTRACT 1 from the exponent??

According to your textbook, what is the form of "standard form"?

Please post some example problem where you need to convert from 'standard form to scientific notation'.

 

[HallsofIvy]

"Moving the decimal to the right" is equivalent to multiplying that number by a power of 10 but when you are writing a number in "Scientific notation" you want to keep the number the same, NOT change it. so if you multiply one part by a power of 10 you need to divide the other part: 300.97 x 10^8 is the same as 3009.7 x 10^(8-1)= 3009.7 x 10^7.

You can see that if you write the numbers in "regular" notation:
300.97 x 10^8 we need to move the decimal point 8 places so add 6 zeros- 30097000000.
3009.7 x 10^7we need to move the decimal point 7 places so add 6 zeros- 30097000000.

 

[Steven G]

If you have a product, you can multiply one number by any non-zero value you want as long as you divide the other number by that same value.

I can easily compute 25*28 in my head (and so can you!). I multiply 25 by 4 to get 100 and I divide 28 by 4 to get 7. So 25*28 = 100*7 which is easily seen to be 700.

Now if you have 300.97*10^7 (and you want this in Scientific Notation) you can divide 300.97 by 100 (or 10^2) to get 3.0097 and multiply 10^7 by 100 or 10^2 to get 10^9. So 300.97*10^7 = 3.0097*10^9.

This is a very powerful tool to have!