1. WRITING
NUMBERS IN
SCIENCE

2. Rules for Numbers in Science
• Rule 1: Never use commas when writing large numbers,
uses spaces instead
300 000 000.0 NOT 300,000,000.0
• Rule 2: When writing a decimal number, always put a zero
in front of the decimal
0.004 NOT .004
• Rule 3: When writing numbers between 1 and 0, put spaces
every three numbers (just like large numbers)
0.000 000 003 NOT 0.000000003

3. Come up with a rationale
for each of these rules

4. SCIENTIFIC
NOTATION
(aka: SciNo)

5. SCIENTIFIC
NOTATION
An easy way to write very
large or very small
numbers

6. Scientific Notation in Action
1 “mole” = 602 200 000 000 000 000 000 000
or
6.022 x 1023
0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 43
or
4.3 x 10-25

7. Brainstorm some reasons why
it is advantageous to write
numbers in scientific notation

8. Rules of Scientific Notation
• Rule 1: All numbers must be between 1 and >10
• Rule 2: All exponents on the 10 must be whole
numbers
• Rule 3: The exponent on the 10 is equal to the
number of places you move the decimal to satisfy
Rule #1.
• Rule 4: If the original number is between 1 and 0,
the exponent will be negative; otherwise it is
positive
• Rule 5: Only have as many numbers as you have
significant figures

9. Practice with Scientific Notation
4.24 x 109
4 240 000 000 = __________________
0.000 080 040 = __________________
8.004 x 10-5
0.002 030 = __________________
0.000 001 663
1.663 x 10-6 = __________________
3.03 x 104 = __________________
30 300
3.40 x 10-4 = __________________

10. Multiplication with
Scientific Notation
• Multiply the numbers and ADD
the exponents
• (7.50 x 105 ) * (6.1 x 103 ) = 46 x 108

11. Division in Scientific Notation
• Divide the numbers and
SUBTRACT the exponents
• (7.50 x 103 ) / (6.1 x 105 ) = 1.2 x 10-2

12. Addition and Subtraction in
Scientific Notation
• Get the exponents the same
before adding or subtracting
(5.30 x 103 ) + (6.0 x 102 ) =
(5.30 x 103 ) + (0.60 x 103 ) =
5.90 x 103