Unit 2: Powers and Roots.

ACTIVITIES 2

Mathematics - 3 ESO

10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

READING
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

The expression 10 is called googol. The term was coined (acuado) in 1938 by the 9-year-old Milton Sirotta, nephew of the American mathematician Edward Kasner. Many calculators do not provide for numbers of this magnitude, but it is no serious loss. A googol has no particular significance in mathematics, but is useful when comparing with other very large quantities such as the number of subatomic particles in the visible universe or the number of hypothetically possible chess moves. Consider that if all the atoms in the known universe were counted (10 10 ), the number would not even be close to a googol. Edward Kasner used it to illustrate the difference between an unimaginably large number and infinity and in this role it is sometimes used in teaching mathematics. If a googol is too small for you, try 10 As final notes: The name of the Internet site Google.com is a takeoff (parodia) on the world googol. In The Simpsons, the family sometimes sees a movie at the "Springfield Googolplex" theatres, a humorous reference to multiplex, megaplex, and the general trend towards theatres with more screens (each of which is often smaller). A generation later of its invention, googol has been popularized enough to be able to reach audiences of the widely-distributed Peanuts comic strip in which Schroeder estimates Lucy's odds (probabilidad) of eventually marrying him as "Oh, I'd say about 'googol' to one"1: , which is called a googolplex.

The meaning of the expression 6 to 1 (six to one): the first figure represents the number of ways of failing to achieve the outcome and the second figure is the number of ways of achieving a favorable outcome.

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Unit 2: Powers and Roots. ACTIVITIES 2

Mathematics - 3 ESO

2. Scientific Notation or Standard Index Form

2.1 Definition
Often scientific problems deal with very large and very small numbers. For example, the distance from Earth to the sun is about 93,000,000

miles. The wavelength of a yellow color of light is about 0.0000006 meter. Because working with many zeros is difficult, scientists developed a notation that expresses such numbers with exponents. For example, consider the distance from Earth to the sun,

93,000,000 miles. 93,000,000 = 9.3 10,000,000 = 9.3 10

The wavelength of a yellow color of light is about 0.0000006 meter.

0.0000006 = 6.0 0.0000001 = 6.0 10

These numbers are written in a form called scientific notation. Each number written in scientific notation is written as a number greater than or equal to 1 and less than 10 multiplied by some power of 10. This definition can be summarized in the following formula:

= .
where 1

10

< 10

and

The following procedure is used to change a number from its decimal form to scientific notation. a) For numbers greater than 10, move the decimal point to the position to the right of the first digit. The exponent n will equal the number of places the decimal point has been moved.

7, 430,000 = 7.43 10
6 places

b) For numbers less than 1, move the decimal point to the right of the first nonzero digit. The exponent n will be negative, and its absolute value will equal the number of places the decimal point has been moved. For example:

0. 0000007 8 = 7.8 10
7 places

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Unit 2: Powers and Roots. ACTIVITIES 2

Mathematics - 3 ESO

2.2

Adding and Notation

Subtracting

Numbers

in

Scientific

As a way of practicing with scientific notation we can try to add or subtract numbers without using the calculator like this:

9.8 10 + 2.5 10 = 9.8 10 + 0.25 10 = = 9.8 + 0.25 10 = 10.05 10 = .

If the result is not expressed in scientific notation it has to be converted.

2.3 Multiplying and Dividing Numbers using Scientific Notation

Bear in mind the following way of working with numbers in scientific notation.

3.5 10

7 10

= 3.5 7 10 10

= 24.5 10 = .

3 10

: 6 10 = 0.5 10

= 3: 6 10 : 10 =

2.4 Metric Prefix and Scientific Notation Table

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Unit 2: Powers and Roots. ACTIVITIES 2

Mathematics - 3 ESO

EXERCISES
1) Match the term with its description:
Absolute Value Integers Irrational number Distributive property of multiplication over addition Real numbers Radicand Exponent Quotient rule of exponents Product rule of exponents Index

a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j)

These numbers are elements of 3, 2, 1,0,1,2,3 + = + = The expression under a radical sign. The 3 in is an example of this. The distance of a number from zero. The numbers in the set that includes all of the elements of the set of rational numbers and all of the elements of the set of irrational numers. = A number that cannot be written as a fraction in which the numerator and denominator are integers. In , n is this.

2) Write the following numbers in scientific notation. a) 2,011,000,000,000 = b) 49,100,000,000 = c) 0.000000000562 = d) 0.000000402 = 3) Perform the indicated operation and write the answer in scientific notation. a) 3 10 9 10 = b) 8.9 10 3.4 10 =

c) d) e)

. .

= =
. .

4) In 2006, the U.S. government owed about $28,026.76 per man, woman, and child living in the United States. In 2000, the U.S. government debt was about $5.67 trillion and the population of the United States was about 273 million. a) Determine the amount of debt per person in the United States in 2000.

b) How much more per person did the U.S. government owe in 2006 than in
2000.

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