Scientific notation is defined as a standardized way to represent any number as the product of a real number and a power of 10.
Or we can simply say that scientific notation is a way to conveniently express numbers that are too large or too small in decimal form.
Formula to write a number in scientific notation.
- Begin by writing the non zero digit and place the decimal after the first non-zero digit.
- Count the number of digits you need to move the beginning decimal to get to where your decimal is.
- If you move the decimal to the left, then your power is positive.
- If you move the decimal to the right, then your power is negative.
Example:
Write 300,000,000 in scientific notation.
We will place the decimal point after the first none zero number, which in this case is 3.
= 3.0 x
Then count the number of digits you need to move the beginning decimal to get to where your decimal is.
In our case the zeros are 8, and since the decimal is moving to the left, the power will be positive.
= 3.0 x 10^8
