3/28/2023 0 Comments Mega power of ten![]() Watch this brief PBS animation that explains how scientific notation works and why it’s useful.Ī common unit astronomers use to describe distances in the universe is a light-year, which is the distance light travels during one year. The metric system is summarized in Appendix Metric System ![]() The second way we try to keep numbers simple is to use a consistent set of units-the metric International System of Units, or SI (from the French Système International d’Unités ). If you are encountering this system for the first time or would like a refresher, we suggest you look at Appendix Scientific Notation for more information. The small raised number after the 10, called an exponent, keeps track of the number of places we had to move the decimal point to the left to convert 500,000,000 to 5. In scientific notation, if you want to write a number such as 500,000,000, you express it as 5 × 10 8. This system is very appealing because it eliminates the many zeros that can seem overwhelming to the reader. First, we use a system for writing large and small numbers called scientific notation (or sometimes powers-of-ten notation). ![]() We adopt two approaches that make dealing with astronomical numbers a little bit easier. In astronomy we deal with distances on a scale you may never have thought about before, with numbers larger than any you may have encountered. Chapter 1 Science and the Universe: A Brief Tourġ.4 Numbers in Astronomy and Scientific Notation or Powers of Ten
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