Regents Physics Scientific Notation PowerPoint Lecture Notes

Scientific Notation n Why do we use it? Very Small things... BIG THINGS

Scientific Notation n What can the number 10 do? It can be used as a multiplier or a divider to make a number LARGER or smaller Example: 1.0 x 10 = 10 x 10 = 100 x 10 = 1000 AND Example: 1.0 / 10 = 0.10 / 10 = / 10 =

Scientific Notation n Scientific notation uses this principle… –but…uses a shorthand form to move the decimal point The “shorthand” form is called THE POWERS OF 10

The Powers of 10 n 1.0 x 10 x 10 = 100…right?! n 1.0 is multiplied twice by ten… –therefore 10 x 10 = 10 2 This is called an exponent and is written EE on your calculator!

The Powers of 10 n Overall x 100 = 1.0 x 10 2 = 1000 n We can also look at it a different way has three zeros after the digit 1..so.. it takes three moves to the right to get to the end of the number!

The Powers of moves to the right gives a positive exponent 1.0 x 10 3 = 1000 also!

Moves to the right make a number larger... n But what about moves to the left? 1.0 The number gets smaller!

Moves to the left n 0.01 = 2 moves from 1.0 to the left n therefore x The negatives sign means move decimal to the left!

The Powers of 10 Summary n Moves to the right are positive and make a number larger! n Moves to the left are negative and make a number smaller! The number with the decimal > etc and cannot be smaller than 1.0

Practice Problems n Convert to Scientific Notation , x x x x x 10 -6

n Convert to regular numbers 2.3 x x x x Practice Problems 230,