Scientific Notation Conversion
Scientific notation writes a number as a product of two parts: a coefficient and a power of 10. The coefficient should usually be at least 1 and less than 10, while the power of 10 shows how many places the decimal point moved.
1) Move the decimal point
- If the number is greater than 10, move the decimal left until the leading part is between 1 and 10.
- If the number is less than 1, move the decimal right until the leading part is between 1 and 10.
2) Count the moves
- Moving the decimal left gives a positive exponent.
- Moving the decimal right gives a negative exponent.
3) Write the result
Express the number as
a × 10^n
with the correct sign on the exponent.
4) Check your work
Make sure:
- the coefficient is between 1 and 10,
- the exponent matches the number of decimal moves,
- converting back gives the original value.
If a number is already written in scientific notation, you may need to adjust it to a simplified form by rewriting the coefficient correctly and keeping the same value.