(Ang araling ito ay mula sa http://www.nyu.edu/pages/mathmol/textbook/scinot.html)
Minsan, may mga bilang na napakaliit o napakarami na mahirap isulat lahat. Kahit gamitin ang calculator, hindi lahat ng numero ay makikita sa display nito. Isang halimbawa ay ang mga numerong may maraming zero sa una o hulihan ng isang bilang. Dahil dito ang mga siyentipiko ay lumikha ng paraan kung paano ito isusulat nang hindi nababago ang value nito. Ang tawag sa sistemang ito ay scientific notation.
Scientists have developed a shorter method to express very large numbers. This method is called scientific notation. Scientific Notation is based on powers of the base number 10.
The number 123,000,000,000 in scientific notation is written as :
The first number 1.23 is called the coefficient. It must be greater than or equal to 1 and less than 10.
The second number is called the base . It must always be 10 in scientific notation. The base number 10 is always written in exponent form. In the number 1.23 x 1011 the number 11 is referred to as the exponent or power of ten.
To write a number in scientific notation: (Paano isulat ang isang bilang sa scientific notation)
Put the decimal after the first digit and drop the zeroes. (Ilagay ang decimal point 0 tuldok pagkatapos ng unang bilang o digit)
In the number 123,000,000,000 The coefficient will be 1.23 (Sa numerong 123,000,000,000 - ang coefficient ay 1.23)
To find the exponent count the number of places from the decimal to the end of the number. (Para mahanap ang exponent, bilangan ang mga bilang o digit mula sa decimal point o tuldok. Sa numerong 123,000,000,000 - mayroong 11 places o bilang).
In 123,000,000,000 there are 11 places. Therefore we write 123,000,000,000 as:
Exponents are often expressed using other notations. The number 123,000,000,000 can also be written as:
(Ang numerong 123,000,000,000 ay maaari ring isulat gaya ng:
(Sa mga numerong napakaliit - yaong mas maliit pa sa isa - pareho lang ang sistema ng pagsulat subali't ang mga ito ay magkakaroon ng NEGATIVE EXPONENT)
For small numbers we use a similar approach. Numbers less smaller than 1 will have a negative exponent. A millionth of a second is:
