Best Estimates Scientific Notation

What is scientific notation?

• A long way to write really short  numbers
• A short way to write really long numbers
• I don't know...
• None of the above

UNDERSTANDING
If the exponent is a negative number...

• you will get a large number
• you will get a small number

UNDERSTANDING:
The first number in scientific notation must be...

• between and including 0 and 10
• between and including 1 and 9.9999
• between and including 0 and 9.999
• between and including 1 and 10 

Suppose that a scientist estimates that every square mile of the ocean contains an average of 4.6 x 104 pieces of trash. The area of the Earth’s surface that is covered by oceans is approximately 1.2 x 108 square miles.  Using this estimate, how many pieces of trash are in the Earth’s oceans?

• 5.5 x 10¹²
• 1.2 x 10⁸
• 3.4 x 10⁴
• 2.6 x 10³

Neptune’s distance from the sun is about  2.8 x 109 miles.  Earth’s distance from the sun is about 30 times shorter.  What is Earth’s approximate distance, in miles, from the sun?

• 5.8 x 10⁷
• 5.8 x 10⁸
• 9.3 x 10⁷
• 9.3 x 10⁸

Which of the following is correct scientific notation?

• 20.35 x 10⁴
• .2035 x 10⁴
• 2035 ⁴
• 2.035 x10⁴

How would you write 564,000,000 in scientific notation?

• 5.64 x 10^-7
• 5.64 x 10⁶
• 5.64 x 10⁸
• 56.4 x 10⁷

The space shuttle weighs approximately 4.5 million pounds before take off.  After 8.5 minutes into flight, the shuttle has used approximately 3.5 million pounds of its propellant fuel.  What is the space shuttle’s weight in scientific notation 8.5 minutes into the flight?

• 1.0 x 10^-6
• 1.0 x 10^-5
• 1.0 x 10⁵
• 1.0 x 10⁶

How would you write 4.3756 x 10⁴ in standard form?

• 437,560,000
• 0.00043756
• 43,756
• 4,3756

How would you write 0.0005 in scientific notation?

• 50 x 10⁵
• 5 x 10^-4
• 5 x 10³
• .5 x 10^-3