Standard form (scientific notation)
Slide the digits with ÷10 and ×10 until one non-zero digit is left of the decimal point, and watch the power of ten count the slides.
- UK: Year 9
- France: grade 4
- Germany: grade 6
- Iran: grade 9
- Afghanistan: grade 7
- Syria: grade 8
- Palestine: grade 4
- Ukraine: grade 8
- Russia: grade 8
Guide
This studio follows Year 9 (KS3 "interpret and compare numbers in standard form A × 10ⁿ, 1 ≤ A < 10"). Very large numbers (distances in space, populations) and very small ones (the size of cells) are written as A×10n, with one non-zero digit before the point: 3,400,000 = 3.4 × 106.
Each ÷10 slides every digit one place right and adds one to the power of ten; each ×10 does the opposite. So the readout under the table is always the same number, just written another way. The columns are headed by powers of ten.
A negative power means a small number, not a negative one: 5.2 × 10−4 = 0.00052, which is more than zero.
Common mistakes: leaving 34 × 105 as the final answer; reading a negative power as a negative number; comparing by the front number only (9 × 103 and 2 × 104); counting zeros instead of places.