Question

Very small numbers can be expressed in standard form by using ___________. Fill in the blank to make the statement true.

Answer 1

Let us take an example.

Take the number $0.000064$.

$\begin{array}{rcl}0.000064& =& \frac{64}{1000000}\\ & =& \frac{64}{{10}^6}\\ & =& 6.4\times {10}^{-5}[\mathrm{By}\mathrm{laws}\mathrm{of}\mathrm{exponents},{\mathrm{a}}^{-\mathrm{m}}=\frac{1}{{\mathrm{a}}^{\mathrm{m}}}]\end{array}$

∴ The standard form for $0.000064$ is $6.4\times {10}^{-5}$

Hence, we can observe that, very small numbers can be expressed in standard form by using negative exponents.