How to write numbers in standard form

How to write numbers in standard form or scientific notation

.. is becoming quite popular as an exam question. The whole idea is to be able to use a common method that is easy to communicate. The problem with numbers is all the zero’s – while it can look impressive on a maths paper, there’s a huge difference between 14 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that’s 27 zeros) and 14 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that’s 26 zeros).

You could call each of these numbers names to make it easier. Actually 14 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 is officially called an “octillion.” Although they haven’t yet got a name for 14 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 – it’s just “a number with 26 zeros after it.”

I bet you’re now getting a little bit bored with counting all these zeros – so that’s where learning how to write numbers in standard form comes in. You only need to do it once, and then it’s done forever. The good news also is that calculations can be a little bit easier also.

Here’s a couple of videos that might help:

How to use standard form

How to multiply with standard form

How to divide with standard form

Here’s a useful revision guide with all the main topics for GCSE