Scientific Notation and Significant Figures
"Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly will acquire the skill to do difficult
things easily." --Johann von Schiller
Scientific Notation
Chemistry is not made up of only small numbers. It also use very large numbers
.
Try figuring out this
problem:
(128,000,000,000,000 x 45,000,000,000) / .0000000000001289
Figuring out that would be impossible. Just imagine keeping track of all those zeros! If you used
Scientific Notation it would look like this:
(1.28 x 10
15
x 4.5 x 10
10
) / 1.289 x 10
-13
It looks more solvable and it represents significant figures better also. To do this you have to be able
to read scientific notations.
Significant Figures
Significant figures are the certain and the first uncertain digits of a measurement. Significant figures
are used in chemistry alot. Chemistry and basicilly all science depends upon experimentation and in
turn requires numerical measurement. The instrument used for the measurment are made by other
human beings. In simple words, human built instrument always have errors.
In the following lesson will show the mathmatics behind Scientific Notation and Significant Figures.
- Scientific Notation: Format
- Adding and Subraction with Scientific Notation
- Multiplication and Division with Scientific Notation
- Significant Figures Rules
- Rules for Rounding
- Adding and Subtraction with Significant Figures
- Multiplication and Division with Significant Figures
(Please make a choice for further information.)
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