Question

one of your friend missed the class on scientific notation. describe how you would explain to your friend what it means for a number to be in scientific notation and how to convert a number from standard form to scientifc notation

Answer 1

Please do not copy-paste my response.

In scientific notation, numbers take the form a * 10^(n) where a is a number at least 1 but less than 10 (so only one digit before the decimal point) and n is a positive or negative exponent. This format helps us express very large or very small numbers without having lots of decimal places to count.

To convert a number to scientific notation, move the decimal point left or right until you get a number with only one digit before the decimal point. Then for the power of 10, count how many decimal points you moved.

To express numbers larger than 1, we use positive powers of 10. To express numbers less than 1, we use negative powers of 10.

Answer 2

Examples:

1,000
we move the decimal point three times to the left to get 1. Since 1,000 is greater than 1 we use a positive 3 as the exponent. 1,000 = 1 * 10^3

0.01
We move the decimal two times to the right to get 1. Since 0.01 is less than 1 we use a negative exponent (-2). 0.01 = 1 * 10^(-2)