STANDARD FORM

Starter :: Big and small numbers

Distance to the sun? (in metres)

149,597,870,700
? m
Width of an electron? (in metres)

0.000 000 000

? 000 001 m

How could we deal with such large and small numbers? What
problems do these solutions face?
We could write the distance to the sun as “149.6 billion km”. But
we obviously can’t write words like ‘billion’ on our calculator, and
there’s no such words for small numbers.
?
We need some ‘standardised’ way of representing big and small
numbers that make them easy to use in calculations.
What is standard form?

  number between 1 and . Can

A
be negative
Any whole number !
(can be negative)

𝑎 ×10 𝑏
 

 e.g. (we’ll practise converting numbers to and from standard form in a

moment…)

The “” bit tells us the ‘scale’ of the number, i.e. how many place values left
or right of the units digit, the first digit of the number is.

The “3” bit gives us the digits actually used (excluding leading or trailing
zeroes).
Why use standard form?

a It allows us to write really small or really !

big numbers concisely.

b It allows us to easily compare small and

big numbers.

Which is bigger?
234000000000000 23400000000000 

Which is bigger?
14 13
 
2.34 ×10  
2.34 ×10 
Ordering numbers in standard form
Put the following in ascending
order of value:

7
3 × 10
 
Check the power first, because this gives a notion
of how many digits the number has.

9
3 × 10
 

8
2 × 10
 

Although the 2 is smaller than 3, the power is

7
4 × 10
  greater, which always ‘wins’. This tells us the 2
has a greater place value than the 3.
Test Your Understanding So Far
1 2
Which
  of the following numbers are in
standard form?

as 1.1 is between 1 and 10. The base

of the power must be 10.

Which country has

(a) The smallest population? ?
?
Ethiopia
(b) The largest population?
China?
Converting to Standard Form

Convert 4000 to standard form.

Decimal point was
originally here (at
end of number)
?
𝟒 × 10
 ?     𝟑  
4000.
…but now here
 

 
Step 1: For the first number, keep Step 2: For the power of 10, count
dividing/multiplying by 10 until you how many times the decimal place
get a number between 1 and moved leftwards.

Convert 3 800 000 to standard form.

𝟔
 
𝟑 .𝟖 × 𝟏𝟎
?
Test Your Understanding So Far

Convert 700 000 to standard form.

𝟓
 
𝟕 × 𝟏? 𝟎
Convert 267 800 000 to standard form.

𝟖
 
𝟐 .𝟔𝟕𝟖?× 𝟏𝟎
Converting small numbers to Standard Form

Convert 0.002 to standard form.

−𝟑 ?
 
𝟐
? × 10
   

Convert 0.000 00723 to standard form.

−𝟔
𝟕 . 𝟐𝟑× 𝟏𝟎
 
?
Quickfire Questions

𝟐
1  ?

500=𝟓×𝟏𝟎
2 ?
3 ?
4 ?
5 ?
6 ?
7 ?
Converting numbers from standard form
The reverse process, converting numbers from standard form back
into ‘normal numbers’, is the same.

. ?
9 ×10 =90000
  4  

5
 
7.31× 10 =731000
?
For negative powers, the power
−3
 
8.7 ×10 =0.0087? matches the number of leading
0’s.

−7
 
2.65 ×10 =0.00000087
?
Test Your Understanding

7
8 .8 ×10 =𝟖𝟖 𝟎𝟎𝟎
? 𝟎𝟎𝟎
 

−4
6 × 10 =𝟎 . 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟔
 
?
Multiplying Numbers in Standard Form

  7 4
( 3 × 10 ) × ( 2 × 10 )
11
¿ 6?× 10?
 

 
And (thinking about laws of
  the four things are being multiplied,
All indices), what is ?
and we can multiply in any order.
Firstly, what is the ?
Multiplying Numbers in Standard Form

  3 10
( 7 × 10 ) × ( 6× 10 )
𝟏𝟑
¿ 𝟒𝟐 ×𝟏𝟎
    this is NOT in standard form,
But
? as 42 is not between 1 and …

𝟏𝟒
¿ 𝟒 . 𝟐 ×𝟏𝟎
   
…so we turn 42 into 4.2 by
? making it 10 times smaller.
To compensate, we make ten
times bigger, by increasing the
power by 1.
Further Examples

  7 − 12
( 3.5 × 10 ) × ( 4 × 10 )
−𝟓
¿ 𝟏𝟒 ×𝟏𝟎
  Be careful with the negative
? ones. -5 + 1 = -4

−𝟒
¿ 𝟏. 𝟒 ×? 𝟏𝟎
 

−6 2
(8×10 )× (7×10 )
?
?
Test Your Understanding So Far

2 7
 

( 2 ×10 ) × ( 4 ×10 )
?

−5 8
(9×10 )× (7×10 )
?
?
Dividing Numbers in Standard Form
The process is pretty much the same for dividing
numbers in standard form:

9 3
 

( 8 ×10 ) ÷ ( 4 ×10 )
? ?

 And (thinking about laws of

 Firstly, what is ? indices), what is ?
Further Examples

  8 3
( 2 × 10 ) ÷ ( 4 × 10 )
𝟓
¿ 𝟎 .𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎
 
?  
This is the same principle as before
but the opposite. 0.5 is too small so
we to get it between 1 and . So to
𝟒
¿ 𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎
 
? compensate, we have to make ten
times smaller.

6 −4
(2×10 ) ÷ (8×10 )
?
?
Test Your Understanding

  14 5
( 6 × 10 ) ÷ ( 3 × 10 )
𝟗
¿ 𝟐× 𝟏𝟎
 
?

2 7
(3×10 ) ÷ ( 6×10 )
?
?
 
and on your calculator
𝑥
 Use the ×10
  button on your calculator to make calculations
involving standard form. While you can explicitly write using the “ ”
button, it’s faster to use the specialised standard form key.

( 2.41 × 1019 ) × ( 7.1 ×1023 )= 𝟏. 𝟕𝟏𝟏𝟏

  ? × 𝟏𝟎𝟒𝟑
Adding and Subtracting

If the powers of 10 are the

 
1000+2000=3000
? same, we can effectively
‘collect like terms’.
Therefore:
  3 3 3
( 1× 10 ) + ( 2 × 10 ) =3 × 10
?

If the powers are not the same,

 

3 4
either:

( 4×10 ) +( 2×10 )
(a) Convert both numbers to
normal numbers first, then
add/subtract, then convert
back to standard form.
?
(b) Or better, change the number
with the smaller power of 10
so it matches the power of
?
the larger one.
Further Examples

 
7 6
( 5×10 ) +( 4×10 )
?
?

 
6 8
( 7×10 ) +( 3.2×10 )
?
?
 1  ( 1.1× 105 ) + ( 2 × 104 )=𝟏 . 𝟑× ? 𝟏𝟎
𝟓

5 4 𝟒
 
( 1.1 × 10 ) − ( 2 × 10 )= 𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎
2 ?
7 5 𝟕
 
( 5 × 10 ) + ( 2 × 10 ) =𝟓 . 𝟎𝟐× 𝟏𝟎
3 ?
−2 −3 −𝟐
 
( 6.2 × 10 ) + ( 3 × 10 )= 𝟔 .𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎
4 ?
10 12 𝟏𝟐
 
( 9 × 10 ) + ( 2 × 10 ) =𝟐 .𝟎𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎
5 ?

( 3.2× 10− 4 ) − ( 5 × 10−5 ) =𝟐 . 𝟕 ?× 𝟏𝟎− 𝟒

  6
1 4 Express
  the following in standard form:
 Express the following in standard form:
a ?
a ?
? Pro Tip: It’s helpful to
  ?
b [Edexcel] A nanosecond is 0.000 000 001 second.
b remember that ?
c Write the number 0.000 000 001 in standard form.
c ?
Express the following in standard“thousand”
form: is and d ?
d 5 million ? “million” is . If for
example we had 30 000
e ?
e 2 thousand ? 000, we’d instantly f ?
f 8 billion ? know it’s as we’ve
gone one extra digit
g
h
?
g ? in beyond the million
h ?
Express the following standardpoint.
form:
?
i ?
5 Light
  travels approximately 300,000,000 metres each second. A light
2 year is the total distance travelled by light in one year. Assuming there
are 365 days in a year, determine a light year, expressing your answer
a ? in Standard Form (in metres).
?
b ?
c ? 6 The radius of the Earth is 6378.1km.
(a) What is the circumference of the Earth in metres, in standard form?

3
?
(b) How many times can light fully encircle the Earth per second? 7.49
?
a ? 7 A ‘bit’ is the smallest unit of space in computing (holding a ‘0’ or ‘1’
b ? value). There are 8 bits in a byte, 1000 bytes in a kilobyte, 1000
c ? kilobytes in a megabyte, 1000 megabytes in a gigabyte, 1000 gigabytes
in a terabyte, 1000 terabytes in a petabyte and 1000 petabytes in an
d ? exabyte and 1000 petabytes in a zettabyte. The size of the internet is
e ? approximately 8 zettabytes. How many bits are there on the internet (in
f ? Standard Form)? bits
?
g ?
Convert the following numbers from standard form to
normal numbers.

1 3

5
? ?
4
a  a 

7×10 =𝟕𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎 6×10 =𝟔𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎

b ? b ?
c ? c ?
d ? d ?
e ? e ?
f ?
2
?
g ?
−2
a 

2×10 =𝟎.𝟎𝟐
b ?
c ?
d ?
e ?
 a  ?
4 5
1
?
(1×10 )×(5×10 )=𝟓×𝟏𝟎
b
c ?
d ?
e ?
f ?
g ?
2 a  ?
7 5 𝟐
?
(5×10 )÷ (1×10 )=𝟓×𝟏𝟎
b [Edexcel IGCSE June2011-3H Q20]
c ?
d ?
e ?
f ?
g ?
3  [Edexcel GCSE June2007-4I Q23b, June2007-
𝟗
6H Q13b] In 2003 the population of Great
Britain was  
In 2003 the population of India was 
In 1933 the population of Great Britain was 
Calculate the percentage increase in the
population of Great Britain from 1933 to
2003. Give your answer correct to one
decimal place.
Solution: 33.3%
?
4  where  is an integer and 
Find, in standard form, an expression for .
Give your expression as simply as possible.
But
Therefore in standard form: