Unit 1: Scientific Notation

Question 1

What is Scientific notation?

Answer 1

a means of expressing numbers which are too large or too small to be conveniently written in decimal form

Use powers of 10

• 10X

Significant figures limit

Usually 2 or 3

Question 2

Conversion:

Decimal → Exponential:

Answer 2

• move decimal behind 1st digit
• exponent = # places
• number > 1, move decimal left (+ exponent)
• number < 1, move decimal right ( - exponent)

Question 3

Express each of the following in scientific notation:

1. 0.0024
2. 224
3. 48.20
4. 0.00000053800
5. 1,329,000,000

Answer 3

2. 4 x 10^-3
3. 24 x 10²
4. 82 x 10¹
5. 38 x 10^-7
6. 33 x 10⁹