Scientific Notation

< 10.1 Exponents | Topic Index | 11.1 Abacus Vs Algorithm >

Scientific Notation

We have seen that humans find it easy to remember short &ldquo;strings&rdquo; of numbers. That was one reason units of measurement were made in different magnitudes.

A science &amp; technology advanced, many accurate measurements were made both in astronomy &amp; nuclear science. These included numbers with &ldquo;extremely&rdquo; long strings of numbers both in the whole number &amp; decimal segments. Such numbers are very difficult to remember &amp; do quick mental calculations.

Exponentiation enables us to write such very large or extremely small numbers using fewer numerals. We will take 2 examples.

Students may not fully understand this notation. But they can see that it is far easier to remember than the original value with its huge string of 0s.
 * 1) The mass of the Sun has been calculated as1,989,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilograms. This can be written as 1.989 X Kgs.
 * 2) The mass of a proton has been determined as0.00000000000000000000000167 gm. This can be written using scientific notation as 1.67X gm.

Scientific Notation &amp; the Metric System

The Metric system is made in powers of 10. Hence it is most suited for representing with the scientific notation.

< 10.1 Exponents | Topic Index | 11.1 Abacus Vs Algorithm >