Standard Form

Positive indices and large numbers

Negative indices and small numbers
Think back..
You need to understand about powers of 10.
Try these to test your previous knowledge.

10 2 10-1
105
103
101 10-2
Remember this?
104 100
10 -3
What is standard form?
Standard Form is used a lot in maths and science as a
convenient way of writing very large, or very small
numbers for example:

The distance from the earth to the sun is

149 000 000 km

A hydrogen atom has a diameter of about
0.000 000 2 mm
Large Numbers!
Look at how these numbers have been broken down:

500 = 5 × 100 = 5 × 102

5000 = 5 × 1 000 = 5 × 103

50 000 = 5 × 10 000 = 5 × 104

you know how to write
these as powers of 10
The rule! Standard form is:
a number a power
between 1
and 10 × of ten

positive
10 o r negati
c lud in g ve
no t in
but
E.g. 45,000 can’t be written as 45 x 1000 = 45 x 103
It must be written as 4.5 x 10,000 = 4.5 x 104
The trick!
The number of decimal places you have moved it the
number you put 10 to the power of!!
Moved the
decimal in

550
twice so 102
= 5.5 × 102
Moved the
decimal four

98,000 = 9.8 × 104

times so 104

Moved the
decimal six

7850000 = 7.85 × 106 times so 106

Now you try! Put these numbers into standard form:

6 000 = 6 × 103 4 000 = 4 × 103

400 = 4 × 102 450 = 4.5 × 102

80 000 = 8 × 10 4 55000 = 5.5 × 104
9 000 3500
= 9 × 103 = 3.5 × 103
4 00 000 750 000
= 4 × 105 = 7.5 × 105
 Small Numbers!
Look at how these numbers have been broken down:

0.05 = 5 × 0.01 = 5 × 10-2

0.005 = 5 × 0.001 = 5 × 10-3

0.0005 = 5 × 0.0001 = 5 × 10-4

you know how to write
these as negative powers of 10
The trick!
The number of decimal places you have moved it the
number you put 10 to the power of!!
Moved the
decimal back

0.07 = 7 × 10-2
twice so 10-2

Moved the
decimal back

0.00941 = 9.41 × 10-3

three times
so 10-3

Moved the
decimal back
0.000115 = 1.15 × 10-4 four times so
10-4
 Red Amber Green

Write the following in Write the

standard form Write the following
following as
in standard form.
ordinary numbers.
a) 450
a) 80 x 102
b) 48000 a) 6 x 102
b) 220 x 106
c) 7850 b) 7.4 x 104
c) 8700 x 107
d) 67000000 c) 3.54 x 106
d) 0.56 x 105
d) 9.03 x 105
e) 249 e) 0.037 x 106
e) 5.7 x 100
f) 0.00056 f) 740 x 10-2
f) 4.7 x 10-2
g) 0.01 g) 6500 x 10-3
g) 9.1 x 10-7
h) 23 x 10-4
h) 0.00072 h) 8.7 x 10-4
i) 0.007 x 10-4
i) 0.0057 i) 7.8 x 10-1
j) 0.08 x 10-5
j) 0.00000000002 j) 9.03 x 10-4
 Red Amber Green

Write the following in

standard form
Write the Write the following
following as
in standard form.
ordinary numbers.
a) 4.5 x102
a) 8 x 103
b) 4.8x104 a) 600 b) 2.2 x 108
c) 7.85 x 103 b) 74000 c) 8.7 x 1010
d) 6.7 x 107 c) 3540000 d) 5.6 x 104
d) 903000
e) 2.49 x 102 e) 3.7 x 104
e) 5.7 f) 7.4 x 100
f) 5.6 x 10-4 f) 0.047
g) 1 x 10-2 g) 6.5 x 100
g) 0.00000091
h) 0.00087 h) 2.3 x 10-3
h) 7.2 x 10-5
i) 0.78 i) 7 x 10-7
i) 5.7 x 10-3 j) 8 x 10-7
j) 2 x 10-11 j) 0.000903
Use the cards to find out some
facts about our world.