How to Write Numbers in Standard Form

Simplify large numbers with standard form.

Standard form is used in chemistry and general mathematics where significant digits must be noted. It is a way to simplify large numbers by reformatting them into a smaller, more manageable notation. Learning the rules for standard form is very simple, and is often mastered by very young students.

Instructions

1. Determine the number of significant digits you should round to. (In this case, significant digits are numbers other than 0). For example, if you have the number "4,954,900" and you need to simplify to the millions, you are rounding to one significant digit. Your resulting number is "5,000,000."

2. Format the significant digits so that the leading number is in the ones place. For example, "5,000,000" would convert to 5. "7,700,000" would convert to 7.7.

3. Append the notation "x 10^x" to the end of the number, according to what equates to the original number. For example, 5,550,000 converts to "5.55 x 10^6", because 1,000,000 multiplied by 5.55 is 550,000.

References

• Standard Form
• How to Write Numbers in Standard Form up to Thousands