Converting between ordinary numbers and standard form
To convert a number into standard formA system in which numbers are written as a number greater than 1 and less than 10 multiplied by a power of 10 which may be positive or negative., split the number into two parts - a number multiplied by a powerA number that is multiplied by itself one or more times is raised to a power. of 10.
Powers of 10
Standard form uses the fact that the decimal place value system is based on powers of 10:
\(34 \times 10^7\) is not written in standard form as the first number is not between 1 and 10. To correct this, we need to divide 34 by 10. To balance out the division of 10, we also need to multiply the second part by 10, which gives 108.
\(34 \times 10^7\) and \(3.4 \times 10^8\) are equal in value, but only the second is written in standard form.