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This section will cover the fundamentals of scientific notation.
Positive Exponents
Scientific notation uses the base of 10 to write extremely large or extremely small numbers.
The positive exponents tell how many zeros will be added to the base number.
Negative Exponents
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Negative exponents show a reciprocal value, which is the flip-flop or opposite of a whole number.
Therefore, the smaller the exponent, the smaller the number.
Practice Writing in Scientific Notation
point has been moved. We see that there are seven spaces.
Suppose you want to write 93,731,000 in scientific notation. Since our example is a positive number, you will begin by:
- placing a decimal point between the 9 and 3
- then, multiply by 10
- Count all the spaces from the original decimal point to where the decimal
Example 1:
Example 2:
The exponent 7 is positive.
When the exponent is positive, the decimal point is moved to the left, resulting in a larger number.
Scientific notation is also called exponential notation because of its use of exponents. When the exponents are positive, the numbers are extremely large.
Math: Scientific Notation - Tutorial
