Title: Show What You Know: Scientific Notation for Process Technology
Course: Open PRO131 Instrumentation II > Section: Math Resources: Need a Refresher?

Q: The national debt is about $

What is this number in standard form?
- $13,040,000,000,000 (Yes, that is over 13 trillion dollars. And it is probably a lot more by now.)
- $1,304,000,000 (Make sure you count 13 places from the decimal point to the right.)
- $130,040,000,000,000 (You only move 13 places from the decimal point, not from the left of the 1. You added an extra zero.)
A: $13,040,000,000,000

Q: The nearest star to ours (the Sun) is Proxima Centauri at a distance of about

24,700,000,000,000 miles.

What is this number in scientific notation?
- 2.47 times 10 to the power of 13 (Correct!)
- 24.7 times 10 to the power of 12 (Don't forget that when you move the decimal the number has to be between 1 and 10. Your number is too large.)
- .247 times 10 to the power of 14 (Don't forget that when you move the decimal, the number has to be between 1 and 10. Your number is too small.)
A: 2.47 times 10 to the power of 13

Q: The length of a typical virus cell is meters.

What is this number in standard form?
- 0.000000075 (You are correct!)
- 750,000,000 (Because the exponent is negative, the number is getting smaller. You need to move your decimal to the left.)
- 0.00000075 (You needed to move your decimal one more space.)
A: 0.000000075

Q: 1 foot-pound is approximately British thermal units.   Write this number in standard form.
- 0.001286 (Yes!)
- 1286 (No, you moved your decimal in the wrong direction.)
A: 0.001286

Q: 1 therm is 100,000 British thermal units.   Write 100,000 British thermal units in scientific notation.
- 1.0 times 10 to the power of 5. (Correct.)
- 1.0 times 10 to the power of - 5 (No, your exponent should not be negative.)
A: 1.0 times 10 to the power of 5.