Scientific Notation Lesson 9 lab What is scientific

Scientific Notation Lesson 9 -lab

What is scientific notation? • It is a method that scientists use to express very large and very small numbers. • We use exponents with a base of 10 to express place value.

Remember… 2 10 3 104 100 = 1, 000 = 107 10, 000 = 10 11 100, 000, 000 = 10

Strategy for Large Numbers • Place a decimal point after the first digit. • The nonzero part of the expression will be called the coefficient. The coefficient will always be between 1 and 10. • Count the number of spaces it takes to get to the end of the number. • That number of spaces will be the exponent for the base of 10.

Example – Write 93, 000 in scientific notation. 9. 3 is the coefficient. 9. 3 0 0 0 It takes 7 spaces to get to the end. 7 9. 3 x 10

Strategy for Small Numbers • Place the decimal point after the first nonzero digit. • The nonzero part will be the coefficient. • Count the spaces between your new decimal point and the original one. • The number of spaces you moved back will be your negative exponent.

Example – Write 0. 0000023 in scientific notation. 0. 0 0 0 2. 3 is the coefficient. There are 6 spaces between the new decimal point and the old decimal. -6 2. 3 x 10 The negative exponent shows us that we are going left on the number line.

Homework Time!