Scientific Notation How much does the sun weigh? 4,400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 lbs. How much hydrogen does the sun burn each second? 600,000,000 metric tons How much longer will the sun burn? 6,000,000,000 years.

Scientific Notation Let’s look at these large Numbers 4,400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 lbs. 600,000,000 metric tons 6,000,000,000 years Each of these numbers can be written in a different form called Scientific Notation. Scientific Notation makes really BIG numbers and really small numbers more manageable.

Scientific Notation Scientific Notation is made up of 2 parts. 1st Part = a number between 1 and 10 2nd Part = x 10 to some power If it doesn’t have both parts, it is NOT Scientific Notation.

Scientific Notation 4.4 x 1030 lbs. Let’s change these large Numbers to Scientific Notation….. 4,400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 lbs. 4.4 x 1030 lbs. Place the decimal pt. after the first # and then count to the end.

Scientific Notation 600,000,000 metric tons 6,000,000,000 years 6.0 x 10? 6.0 x 108 metric tons 6,000,000,000 years 6.0 x 109 years

Change to Scientific Notation 1570 Place the decimal just after the first number. 1.570 Then count the # of places 1570 = 1.57 x 103

Change to Scientific Notation 832,000,000 Place the decimal just after the first number. Then count the # of places =8.32 x 108

Negative Exponents For small numbers we use a similar approach. Numbers less smaller than 1 will have a negative exponent. A millionth of a second is: 0.000001 sec. or 1.0 x 10-6

Change to Standard Notation Now let’s go backwards and change from Scientific Notation to Standard Notation.

Change to Standard Notation 4.53 x 105 Move the decimal pt. 5 places to the right. 453000 = 453 000

Change to Standard Notation 4.53 x 10-5 Move the decimal pt. 5 places to the left. 0.0000453

Really BIG number = positive exponents. Summary Really BIG number = positive exponents. 50 000 = 5.0 x 104 Really small number = negative exponents. 0.0000023 = 2.3 x 10 -6