Exponents
The
definition of exponents is that some base number is raised to a power.
baseexponent
= be
When
we have 52...the
exponent 2 means that 5 is multiplied times itself...5
x 5 = 25. If you have 24,
this= 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16. A decimal fraction becomes smaller...0.22
= 0.2 x 0.2 = 0.04.
Negative
Exponents are used in science to express very small numbers and actually equal a
fraction with the number in the denominator.
Scientists
use scientific notation for the expression of large or small numbers.
This convention expresses a number using a single digit before the decimal point
and multiplying this number by ten raised to some power.
To
convert 3,700,000 into scientific notation, the decimal is moved 6
places to the left (I know the decimal isn't shown, you have to know that it is
there.) yielding 3.7 and then multiply this number by ten raised to the number
you counted, 6...giving the answer 3.7 x 106. When a number is
larger than a single digit number, the exponent will always be a positive number.
To
convert 3.7 x 106 into a decimal number, the decimal is moved 6
places to the right yielding 3,700,000.
To
convert 0.000102 into scientific notation the decimal is moved 4 places to the
right yielding 1.02x10-4.
When a number is less than one the exponent will always be
a negative number.
Try
to convert
0.000000000000000000000001672 g, the mass of a proton, into scientific notation.