Scientific Notation

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Scientific Notation
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What is the scientific notation?

• In science, we often deal with very large or very
  small numbers, scientific notation is a way to
  write these numbers easily in decimal form
• Often times, this means getting rid of all the
  zeros in the number, but not always!

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How does the scientific notation work?

• There are always two parts of the scientific
  notation
• 3.5 x 108

• Decimal you should only have one number in front
  of the decimal point

• Exponent this expresses how many zeros are in
  the number and can only be in whole numbers

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What does the scientific notation mean?
The decimal number is your starting point. You
know how many places and which way to move the
decimal point depending on the exponent.

• 3.5 x 108
• The exponent is positive 8, which means you move
  the decimal point 8 places to the right
• In all the empty places you add zeros, so it
  becomes
• 350,000,000

• 3.5 x 10-8
• The exponent is negative 8, which means you move
  the decimal point 8 places to the left
• In all the empty places you add zeros, so it
  becomes
• 0.000000035