Chapter

Standard form

Topics Level Key words

1 Standard form FOUNDATION standard form, index

2 Calculating with FOUNDATION

standard form

3 Solving problems HIGHER

What you need to be able to do in the examinations:

FOUNDATION HIGHER
n
● Express numbers in the form a × 10 where n ● Solve problems involving standard form.
is an integer and 1 ⩽ a < 10.
● Calculate with numbers in standard form.

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 9.1 Standard form

Powers of ten:
100 = 10 × 10 = 102
1000 = 10 × 10 × 10 = 103

Extending this idea:

10 000 = 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 = 104
100 000 = 105
1 000 000 = 106
and so on.

The power of 10 is called the index.

Standard form is a way of writing very large and very small numbers using powers of 10. In this
form, a number is given a value between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of 10. That is,
a × 10n where 1 ⩽ a < 10, and n is a whole number.
Look at these examples to see how numbers are written in standard form.
52 = 5.2 × 10 = 5.2 × 101
73 = 7.3 × 10 = 7.3 × 101
625 = 6.25 × 100 = 6.25 × 102 The numbers in bold are in standard form.
389 = 3.89 × 100 = 3.89 × 102
3147 = 3.147 × 1000 = 3.147 × 103

When writing a number in this way, you must always follow two rules.
● The first part must be a number between 1 and 10 (1 is allowed but 10 isn’t).
● The second part must be a whole-number (negative or positive) power of 10. Note that you
would not normally write the power 1.
You need to be able to use and manipulate the numbers in standard form both with a calculator
and without one.

Standard form on a calculator

A number such as 123 000 000 000 is obviously difficult to key into a calculator. Instead, you
enter it in standard form (assuming you are using a scientific calculator):
123 000 000 000 = 1.23 × 1011
The key strokes to enter this into your calculator could be something like this:

1 • 2 3 ×10x 1 1
Your calculator display will display the number either as an ordinary number, if there is enough
space, or in standard form. Make sure you know how to use standard form on your calculator.

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 CHAPTER 9: Standard form

Standard form of numbers less than 1

We use a negative index for numbers between 0 and 1:
0.1 = 10–1
0.01 = 10–2
0.001 = 10–3
0.0001 = 10–4
and so on.

For example:
0.000 729 = 7.29 × 0.0001
= 7.29 × 10–4 in standard form

These numbers are written in standard form. Make sure that you understand how they are formed.
a 0.4 = 4 × 10–1 b 0.05 = 5 × 10–2 c 0.007 = 7 × 10–3
d 0.123 = 1.23 × 10–1 e 0.007 65 = 7.65 × 10–3 f 0.9804 = 9.804 × 10–1
g 0.0098 = 9.8 × 10–3 h 0.000 0078 = 7.8 × 10–6

On a calculator you would enter 1.23 × 10–6, for example, as:

1 • 2 3 ×10x (-) 6
Try entering some of the numbers in a to h (above) into your calculator for practice.

EXERCISE 9A
Do this exercise without a calculator.

FOUNDATION
1 These numbers are in standard form. Write them out in full.
a 2.5 × 102 b 3.45 × 10 c 4.67 × 10–3 d 3.46 × 10
–2 3 2
e 2.0789 × 10 f 5.678 × 10 g 2.46 × 10 h 7.6 × 103
i 8.97 × 105 j 8.65 × 10–3 k 6 × 107 l 5.67 × 10–4

2 Write these numbers in standard form.

a 250 b 0.345 c 46 700
d 3 400 000 000 e 20 780 000 000 f 0.000 567 8
g 2460 h 0.076 i 0.000 76
j 0.0006 k 0.005 67 l 56.0045

In questions 3 to 5, write the numbers given in each statement in standard form.

3 The population of India in 2003 was 1 065 000 000.

4 The total land area of Asia is 45 040 000 square kilometres.

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FOUNDATION CHAPTER 9: Standard form

5 The asteroid Phaethon comes within 12 980 000 miles of the Sun. The asteroid Pholus,
at its furthest point, is a distance of 2997 million miles from the Earth. The closest an
asteroid ever came to Earth was 93 000 miles from the planet.

6 How many times bigger is 3.2 × 106 than 3.2 × 104?

7 Here are the distances of some planets from the Sun:

Jupiter 778 million kilometres
Mercury 58 million kilometres
Pluto 5920 million kilometres
Write these distances in standard form.

8 Here are some facts about a bacterium:

Width 0.000 001 2 metres
Mass 0.000 000 000 000 95 grams

Write these numbers in standard form.

9.2 Calculating with standard form

Calculations involving very large or very small numbers can be done more easily using
standard form.
You can enter numbers in a scientific calculator in standard form. This is done in different ways
with different models. Make sure you know how to do this with your calculator.

EXAMPLE 1

A pixel on a computer screen is 2 × 10–2 cm long by 7 × 10–3 cm wide.

What is the area of the pixel?
Give your answer in standard form.

The area is given by length times width.

Area in cm2 = 2 × 10–2 × 7 × 10–3
= 1.4 × 10–4 in standard form.

When you use a calculator you can enter the numbers directly without any rearranging.
Your calculator may give you the answer in standard form.

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 CHAPTER 9: Standard form

EXERCISE 9B

Do questions 1, 2 and 3 without a calculator.

FOUNDATION
1 Write these numbers in standard form.
a 56.7 × 102 b 0.06 × 104
c 34.6 × 10–2 d 0.07 × 10–2
e 56 × 10 f 2 × 3 × 105
g 2 × 102 × 35 h 23 million

2 Work out the following. Give your answers in standard form.

a 2 × 104 × 5.4 × 103 b 1.6 × 102 × 3 × 104
c 2 × 104 × 6 × 104 d 2 × 10–4 × 5.4 × 103
e 1.6 × 10–2 × 4 × 104 f 2 × 104 × 6 × 10–4
g (5 × 103)2 h (2 × 10–2)3

3 Work out the following. Give your answers in standard form.

a (5.4 × 104) ÷ (2 × 103) b (4.8 × 102) ÷ (3 × 104)
c (1.2 × 104) ÷ (6 × 104) d (2 × 10–4) ÷ (5 × 103)
e (1.8 × 104) ÷ (9 × 10–2) f (36 ×10–4)

4 A typical adult has about 20 000 000 000 000 red blood cells. Each red blood cell has a
mass of about 0.000 000 000 1 g. Write both of these numbers in standard form and work
out the total mass of red blood cells in a typical adult.

5 The Moon is a sphere with a radius of 1.74 × 103 kilometres. The formula for
working out the surface area of a sphere is:
surface area = 4πr 2
Calculate the surface area of the Moon.

6 Evaluate E when E = 1.5 × 103 and M = 3 × 10–2, giving your answer in standard
M
form.

7
7 Work out the value of 3.2 × 102 giving your answer in standard form, correct to
1.4 × 10
2 significant figures.

8 A number is greater than 100 million and less than 1000 million.
Write down a possible value of the number, in standard form.
Problems in astronomy can use very large numbers. Problems in science can use very small
numbers. It is better to use very large and very small numbers in standard form.

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 9.3 Solving problems

EXAMPLE 2

The distance from the Sun to the Earth is 150 million km.
Light travels at 3.00 × 105 km/second.
How long does light from the Sun take to reach the Earth?

Distance = 150 000 000 = 1.5 × 108 km

Time = distance ÷ speed
= (1.5 × 108 ) ÷ (3.00 × 105 )
= 500 seconds (use a calculator to do this)
= 8 minutes 20 seconds

EXERCISE 9C
HIGHER

1 A man puts one grain of rice on the first square of a chess

board, two on the second square, four on the third, eight
on the fourth and so on. Compare powers of 2
a How many grains of rice will he put on the 64th square with the running totals.
By the fourth square you
of the board?
have 8 grains altogether,
b How many grains of rice will there be altogether? and 23 = 8.

Give your answers in standard form.

2 The surface area of the Earth is approximately 3.2 × 108 square kilometres. The area of
the Earth’s surface that is covered by water is approximately 2.2 × 108 square kilometres.
a Calculate the area of the Earth’s surface not covered by water. Give your answer
in standard form.
b What percentage of the Earth’s surface is not covered by water?

3 In 2009, British Airways carried 33 million passengers. Of these, 70% passed

through Heathrow Airport. On average, each passenger carried 19.7 kg of luggage.
Calculate the total mass of the luggage carried by these passengers.

4 In 2009 the world population was approximately 6.77 × 109. In 2010 the world
population was approximately 6.85 × 109.
a By how much did the population rise? Give your answer as an ordinary number.
b What was the percentage increase?

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 CHAPTER 9: Standard form

HIGHER
5 Here are four numbers written in standard form.
1.6 × 104 4.8 × 106 3.2 × 102 6.4 × 103
a Work out the smallest answer when two of these numbers are multiplied together.
b Work out the largest answer when two of these numbers are added together.
Give your answers in standard form.

6 The mass of Saturn is 5.686 × 1026 tonnes. The mass of the Earth is 6.04 × 1021
tonnes. How many times heavier is Saturn than the Earth? Give your answer in
standard form to a suitable degree of accuracy.

7 Here are the populations of some countries. Country Population

a Which country has the largest population? Tunisia 9.83 × 106
Denmark 5.36 × 106
b Which two countries have a very similar
Senegal 1.01 × 107
population size?
Jamaica 2.65 × 106
c Find the total population of Senegal, Mexico 1.03 × 108
Denmark and Jamaica, in standard form to India 1.07 × 109
two significant figures.
d Complete this sentence:
The population of Mexico is approximately … times larger than the population of
Denmark.
e Complete this sentence:
The population of India is approximately … times larger than the population of Jamaica.

8 This table shows the populations and the areas of five different countries.
Country Population Area
Russian Federation 1.43 × 108 1.71 × 107
Sri Lanka 1.91 × 107 6.56 × 104
Thailand 6.28 × 107 5.13 × 105
Togo 4.91 × 106 5.68 × 105
Iran 6.89 × 107 1.65 × 106

a Which country has the smallest population?

b Which country has the smallest area?
The population density is the population divided by the area.
c Which country has the largest population density?
d Which country has the smallest population density?
e What fraction of the area of the Russian Federation is the area of Sri Lanka?
Give your answer in the form 1
N

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 Why this chapter matters
Technology is increasingly important in our lives. It helps us
do many things more efficiently than we could without it.

Hundreds of years ago people in different countries had

different systems of measurement. They were often based
on the human body, e.g. the length of people’s hands, arms
or feet, but they all varied and all had different names.
Flemish Ell Yard
Cubit English Ell
Now the world has an official standard system of Span French Ell
Fathom
measurement – the metric system. This is especially
important for scientists so they can work together
worldwide. It is also helpful for everyone who needs to 18 Handbreadths

compare lengths, masses, volumes and so on between

different countries. 6 Feet

We also have more help now in calculating complicated

measurements like volume. Calculating aids have been
used for thousands of years. In about 2000 BCE the abacus
was being used in Egypt and China.

7 × 1= 7 1
2
7 × 2= 1 3
4 4
2 5 Board
7 × 3= 1 6
7
7 × 4= 2 8
8 9
7 × 5= 3
5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
7 × 6= 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0
2 0
2
0
4
0
6
1
8
1
0
1
2
2
4
2
6
2
8
0
0
3 6 9 2 5 8 1 4 7 0
7 × 7= 4 0
4
0
8
1
2
1
6
2
0
2
4
2
8
3
2
3
6
0
0
Abacuses are still widely used in China today and they were 9 0
5
1
0
1
5
2
0
2
5
3
0
3
5
4
0
4
5
0
0

used everywhere for almost 3500 years, until John Napier 7 × 8= 5 0

6
1
2
1
8
2
4
3
0
3
6
4
2
4
8
5
4
0
0
6 0
7
1
4
2
1
2
8
3
5
4
2
4
9
5
6
6
3
0
0
devised a calculating aid called Napier’s bones. 7 × 9= 6 0
8
1
6
2
4
3
2
4
0
4
8
5
6
6
4
7
2
0
0
3 0
9
1
8
2
7
3
6
4
5
5
4
6
3
7
2
8
1
0
0

Napier’s bones

These led to the invention of the slide rule by William

Oughtred in 1622. This was in use until the mid-1960s.
Engineers working on the first ever moon landings used
slide rules to do some of their calculations.

The first electronic computers were produced in the mid-20th century. When the
transistor was invented, the power increased and the cost and size decreased until the
point where the average scientific calculator that students use in schools has more
computing power than the first craft that went into space.

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