Standard form?(sometimes called?scientific notation?or?standard index form) gives us a way of writing very big and very small numbers using powers of 10.

Why use standard form?

• Some numbers are too big or too small to write easily or for your calculator to display at all
  • Imagine the number 50^50?, the answer would take 84 digits to write out
  • Try typing 50^50?into your calculator, you will see it displayed in?standard form
• Writing very big or very small numbers in standard form allows us to:
  • Write them more neatly
  • Compare them more easily
  • Carry out calculations more easily
• Exam questions could ask for your answer to be written in standard form

How is standard form written?

How are calculations carried out with standard form?

• Your GDC will display large and small numbers in standard form when it is in normal mode
  • Your GDC may display standard form as?aEn
    • If so, be careful to?rewrite the answer given in the correct form, you will not get marks for copying directly from your GDC
• Your GDC will be able to carry out calculations in standard form
  • If you put your GDC into scientific mode it will automatically convert numbers into standard form
    • Beware that your GDC may have more than one mode when in scientific mode
    • This relates to the number of significant figures the answer will be displayed in
    • Your GDC may add extra zeros to fill spaces if working with a high number of significant figures, you do not need to write these in your answer