what is the Scientific Notation?
This is an excellent article. Enjoy!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_notation
thank u soooo much!
Scientific notation, also known as standard form or exponential notation, is a way to write very large or very small numbers in a more concise and organized manner. It is widely used in science, mathematics, and engineering to represent numbers that are either too big or too small to easily express or work with using regular decimal notation.
Scientific notation consists of two parts: a coefficient and an exponent, both written in a specific format. The coefficient is a number greater than or equal to 1 but less than 10. The exponent indicates the power of 10 by which the coefficient is multiplied.
To convert a number into scientific notation, follow these steps:
1. Identify the decimal point in the original number.
2. Determine the number of digits between the decimal point and the farthest right digit.
3. Move the decimal point to the right until there is only one non-zero digit to the left of the decimal point.
4. Count the number of places moved, and that becomes the exponent of 10.
5. The remaining digits after moving the decimal point become the coefficient in scientific notation.
Here's an example:
Original number: 238,000,000
1. Identify the decimal point: 238,000,000.
2. Count the number of digits to the right of the decimal point: 0.
3. Move the decimal point to the right until there is only one non-zero digit to the left: 2.38.
4. Count the number of places moved: 8.
5. The coefficient becomes 2.38, and the exponent become 8.
Therefore, 238,000,000 can be written in scientific notation as 2.38 x 10^8.
In scientific notation, if the exponent is positive, the number is large, while a negative exponent represents a small number.