Teacher Script & Notes
What to say / Spoken Script
Standard form, or scientific notation, writes numbers as $A imes 10^n$, where $A$ is between 1 and 10, and $n$ is an integer. Let's look at 12,700,000 (Earth's diameter in meters). We move the decimal point 7 places to the left to get $1.27 imes 10^7$.
What to do / Action Guide
Show the conversion stages from raw integer to standard form with decimal shift arrows.
Pedagogical Tips
Verify that the decimal coefficient is indeed strictly between 1 and 10.
What to say / Spoken Script
For small numbers less than 1, the exponent is negative. Take 0.000003. We move the decimal point 6 places to the right to obtain $3.0 imes 10^{-6}$. Negative exponents indicate division by powers of 10.
What to do / Action Guide
Show decimal shift to the right for small values.
Pedagogical Tips
A negative exponent does NOT mean the number is negative. It means it is a tiny decimal.
Step 1: Introduction
Step 1 of 2
Was this lesson helpful? Rate this Course
Discussion
Loading comments...