If your child needs math practice, click here.

For sample problems, click here.
Here are some tips for Scientific Notation, which aligns with Minnesota state standards:

Scientific Notation

Examples of using scientific notation:

Original statement:	Jupiter is 483400000 miles away from the sun.
With scientific notation:	Jupiter is 4.834 × 108 miles away from the sun.
Original statement:	The radius of a chlorine atom is 0.00000000012 meters.
With scientific notation:	The radius of a chlorine atom is 1.2 × 10-10 meters.

For 4.834 × 10⁸, 4.834 is called the significant value and 8 is called the exponent.
For 1.2 × 10^-10, 1.2 is called the significant value and -10 is called the exponent.
Significant values must be greater or equal to 1 and less than 10.

Example 1: Write numbers in normal notation

Convert from scientific notation into normal notation.

a.	8.49 × 105
	The exponent is 5 which means that we move the decimal point on the significant value to the right by 5 zeros. 8.49 × 105 = 849000
b.	6.023 × 10-4
	The exponent is -4 which means that we move the decimal point on the significant value to the left by 4 zeros. 6.023 × 10-4 = 0.0006023

Example 2: Write numbers in scientific notation

Convert from normal notation into scientific notation. Use '*' for the multiplication sign.

a.	4646000000
	Count how many decimal places you have to move so that you have a number between 1 and 10. You have to move the decimal point 9 places to the left to get 4.646 So the significant value is 4.646 and the exponent is 9. 46460000000 = 4.646 * 109
b.	0.0000003507
	Count how many decimal places you have to move so that you have a number between 1 and 10. You have to move the decimal point 7 places to the right to get 3.507 So the significant value is 3.507 and the exponent is -7. 0.0000003507 = 3.507 * 10-7

Copyright Accurate Learning Systems Corporation 2008.
MathScore is a registered trademark.