GCSE :: Standard Form

Dr J Frost ([email protected])
@DrFrostMaths

Objectives: Appreciate why standard form is useful. Convert

numbers to and from standard form. Multiply, divide and add
numbers in standard form.

Last modified: 9th March 2020

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Starter :: Big and small numbers

Distance to the sun? (in metres)

149,597,870,700
? m
Width of an electron? (in metres)

0.000 000 000

? 000 001 m

How could we deal with such large and small numbers? What
problems do these solutions face?
We could write the distance to the sun as “149.6 billion km”. But
we obviously can’t write words like ‘billion’ on our calculator, and
there’s no such words for small numbers.
?
We need some ‘standardised’ way of representing big and small
numbers that make them easy to use in calculations.
Scale of the Universe Demo

www.scaleofuniverse.com
What is standard form?

A number between 1 and 9. 9.ሶ

Can be negative
Any whole number !
(can be negative)

𝑎× 10𝑏
e.g. 3 × 108 = 300 000 000 (we’ll practise converting numbers to and from
standard form in a moment…)

The “108 ” bit tells us the ‘scale’ of the number, i.e. how many place values
left or right of the units digit, the first digit of the number is.

The “3” bit gives us the digits actually used (excluding leading or trailing
zeroes).
Why use standard form?

a It allows us to write really small or really !

big numbers concisely.

b It allows us to easily compare small and

big numbers.

Which is bigger?
234000000000000 23400000000000 

Which is bigger?
2.34 × 1014 2.34 × 1013 ☺
Ordering numbers in standard form
Put the following in ascending
order of value:

7
3 × 10 Check the power first, because this gives a
notion of how many digits the number has.

9
3 × 10

2 × 108
Although the 2 is smaller than 3, the power is
7 greater, which always ‘wins’. This tells us the 2
4 × 10 has a greater place value than the 3.
Test Your Understanding So Far
1 2
Which of the following numbers are in
standard form?

0.8 × 105
82 × 106
1.1 × 103
3 × 94
Which country has 𝟏. 𝟏 × 𝟏𝟎𝟑 as 1.1 is between 1 and 10.
(a) The smallest population? ? must be 10.
The base of the power
?
Ethiopia
(b) The largest population?
China?
Converting to Standard Form

Convert 4000 to standard form.

Decimal point was
originally here (at

? end of number)

?𝟒 × 10𝟑 4000.
…but now here

Step 1: For the first number, keep Step 2: For the power of 10, count
dividing/multiplying by 10 until you how many times the decimal place
get a number between 1 and 9. 9ሶ moved leftwards.

Convert 3 800 000 to standard form.

𝟑. 𝟖 ×? 𝟏𝟎𝟔
Test Your Understanding So Far

Convert 700 000 to standard form.

?𝟓
𝟕 × 𝟏𝟎

Convert 267 800 000 to standard form.

𝟐. 𝟔𝟕𝟖?× 𝟏𝟎𝟖
Converting small numbers to Standard Form

Convert 0.002 to standard form.

Recall that the index here is the number of places the

?
−𝟑
decimal place moved left. But we moved right 3 places,
so it’s negative!
?𝟐 × 10 Note that, using laws of indices,
1
2 × 10−3 = 2 × 3 = 2 ÷ 103
10
= 2 ÷ 1000, which is indeed 0.002.

Fro Tip 1: Remember that positive indices give big

numbers, while negative indices give small numbers.

Fro Tip 2: When the index is negative, just count the

number of leading zeroes.

Convert 0.000 00723 to standard form.

𝟕. 𝟐𝟑 ?× 𝟏𝟎−𝟔
Quickfire Questions
Your teacher will target various people to answer, working
them out mentally in your head.

1 ? 𝟐
500 = 𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎
2 ? −𝟐
0.07 = 𝟕 × 𝟏𝟎
3 4700 = 𝟒. 𝟕 ×? 𝟏𝟎𝟑
4 75 000 = 𝟕. 𝟓 ×? 𝟏𝟎𝟒
5 0.000028 = 𝟐. 𝟖 ×?𝟏𝟎−𝟓
6 180 000 000 = 𝟏. 𝟖 ×?𝟏𝟎𝟖
7 0.000 000 099 = 𝟗. 𝟗 ×?𝟏𝟎−𝟖
 Exercise 1
1 4 Express the following in standard form:
Express the following in standard form:
a 900 = 𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎 𝟐
?
a 675 = 𝟔. 𝟕𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎𝟐 ?
? Pro Tip: It’s helpful to b −0.06 = −𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟐 ?
b 4000 = 𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎 𝟑
remember that c 0.000 0351 = 𝟑. 𝟓𝟏 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟓 ?
c 21 000 = 𝟐. 𝟏 × 𝟏𝟎𝟒 ? “thousand” is 103 and d 0.6 = 𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏 ?
d 535 000 = 𝟓. 𝟑𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎𝟓 ? “million” is 106 . If for
example we had 30 000
e 0.000 93 = 𝟗. 𝟑 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟒 ?
e 1234 = 𝟏. 𝟐𝟑𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎𝟑 ? 000, we’d instantly f 0.000 000 6 = 𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟕 ?
f−360 = −𝟑. 𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎𝟐 ? know it’s 3 × 107 as
we’ve gone one extra
g 0.000 000 003 4 = 𝟑. 𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 ?
h [Edexcel] A nanosecond is 0.000 000 001 second.
g 3 600 000 = 𝟑. 𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎𝟔 ? digit beyond the million
Write the number 0.000 000 001 in standard form.
h 850 000 = 𝟖. 𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎𝟓 ? point.
𝟏 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 ?
i42 100 000 = 𝟒. 𝟐𝟏 × 𝟏𝟎𝟕 ?
5 Light travels approximately 300,000,000 metres each second. A light
2 Express the following in standard form: year is the total distance travelled by light in one year. Assuming there
are 365 days in a year, determine a light year, expressing your answer in
a 5 million = 𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎𝟔 ? Standard Form (in metres). 𝟗. 𝟒𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎𝟏𝟓 𝐦
?
b 2 thousand = 𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎𝟑 ?
c 8 billion = 𝟖 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗 ? 6 The radius of the Earth is 6378.1km.
(a) What is the circumference of the Earth in metres, in standard form?

3 Express the following in standard form:

?
𝟒. 𝟎𝟎𝟕𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎𝟕 𝐦
?
(b) How many times can light fully encircle the Earth per second? 7.49
a 0.07 = 𝟕 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟐 ? 7 A ‘bit’ is the smallest unit of space in computing (holding a ‘0’ or ‘1’
b 0.0041 = 𝟒. 𝟏 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟑? value). There are 8 bits in a byte, 1000 bytes in a kilobyte, 1000
c 0.000 0351 = 𝟑. 𝟓𝟏 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟓? kilobytes in a megabyte, 1000 megabytes in a gigabyte, 1000 gigabytes
d 0.6 = 𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏? in a terabyte, 1000 terabytes in a petabyte and 1000 petabytes in an
exabyte and 1000 petabytes in a zettabyte. The size of the internet is
e ?
0.000 93 = 𝟗. 𝟑 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟒 approximately 8 zettabytes. How many bits are there on the internet (in
f 0.000 000 6 = 𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟕 ? Standard Form)? 𝟔. 𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎𝟐𝟐 bits
?
g 0.000 000 003 4 = 𝟑. 𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 ?
Converting numbers from standard form
The reverse process, converting numbers from standard form back
into ‘normal numbers’, is the same.
1. Recall that the index of the 10 tells us how
many times we’re multiply by 10 (or if negative,
dividing by 10). Therefore count the number of
decimal place jumps, adding 0’s if necessary.
9 × 104 = 90000
. ? 2. Remember that we use negative powers for
small numbers, positive powers for large.

7.31 × 105 = 731000

?
Recall the trick: For negative
−3
8.7 × 10 = 0.0087
? powers, the power matches the
number of leading 0’s.

2.65 × 10−7 = 0.00000087

?
Test Your Understanding

7
8.8 × 10 = 𝟖𝟖 𝟎𝟎𝟎? 𝟎𝟎𝟎
6× 10−4 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟔
?
Exercise 2
Convert the following numbers from standard form to
normal numbers.

1 3
a ?
7 × 104 = 𝟕𝟎 𝟎𝟎𝟎 a ?
6 × 105 = 𝟔𝟎𝟎 𝟎𝟎𝟎
b 3 × 106 = 𝟑 𝟎𝟎𝟎?𝟎𝟎𝟎 b 7 × 10−4 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟕
?
c ?
8.1 × 105 = 𝟖𝟏𝟎 𝟎𝟎𝟎 c 3 × 100 = 𝟑 ?
d ? 𝟎𝟎𝟎
5.46 × 107 = 𝟓𝟒 𝟔𝟎𝟎 d ?
8.5 × 10−3 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟖𝟓
e 9.3 × 102 = 𝟗𝟑𝟎 ? e ?
6.22 × 107 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟔𝟐𝟐
f ?
8.74 × 10−6 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟖𝟕𝟒
2 a 2 × 10−2 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟐 ?
g ? 𝟎𝟎𝟎
4.923 × 109 = 𝟒 𝟗𝟐𝟑 𝟎𝟎𝟎
b 6 × 10−1 = 𝟎. 𝟔 ?
c ?
9.3 × 10−5 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟗𝟑
d ?
3.67 × 10−4 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟑𝟔𝟕
e −1.8 × 10−3 = −𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟏𝟖
?
Multiplying Numbers in Standard Form

3× 107 × 2× 104

11
= 6? × 10?
And (thinking about laws of
All the four things are being multiplied, indices), what is 107 × 104 ?
and we can multiply in any order.
Firstly, what is the 3 × 2?
Multiplying Numbers in Standard Form

7× 103 × 6× 1010

= 𝟒𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎
? 𝟏𝟑 But this is NOT in standard form,
ሶ
as 42 is not between 1 and 9. 9…

= 𝟒. 𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎
? 𝟏𝟒 …so we turn 42 into 4.2 by
making it 10 times smaller.
To compensate, we make 1014
ten times bigger, by increasing
the power by 1.
Further Examples

7 −12
3.5 × 10 × 4 × 10
−𝟓 Be careful with the negative
= 𝟏𝟒 × ?𝟏𝟎 ones. -5 + 1 = -4

= 𝟏. 𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎
? −𝟒

8× 10−6× 7× 102
−4
= 56 × 10
?
−3
= 5.6 × 10
?
Test Your Understanding So Far

2× 102× 4× 107

= 𝟖 × 𝟏𝟎 𝟗
?

9× 10−5× 7× 108

= 𝟔𝟑 × 𝟏𝟎
? 𝟑

= 𝟔. 𝟑 × 𝟏𝟎
? 𝟒
Dividing Numbers in Standard Form
The process is pretty much the same for dividing
numbers in standard form:

8× 10
÷ 4× 9 103
𝟔?
= 𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎
?

And (thinking about laws of

Firstly, what is 8 ÷ 4? indices), what is 109 ÷ 103 ?
Further Examples

8 3
2 × 10 ÷ 4 × 10
= 𝟎. 𝟓 ×
? 𝟏𝟎 𝟓 This is the same principle as before
but the opposite. 0.5 is too small so
we × 10 to get it between 1 and 9. 9.ሶ
= 𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎
? 𝟒 So to compensate, we have to make
105 ten times smaller.

2× 106÷ 8× 10−4
10
= 0.25 × 10
?
9
= 2.5 × 10
?
Test Your Understanding

14 5
6 × 10 ÷ 3 × 10
𝟗
=𝟐× 𝟏𝟎
?

3× 102 ÷ 6× 107
−5
= 0.5 × 10
?
= 5 × 10? −6
× and ÷ on your calculator
𝑥
Use the × 10 button on your calculator to make calculations
involving standard form. While you can explicitly write 3 × 107
using the “ 𝑥 𝑦 ” button, it’s faster to use the specialised standard
form key.

2.41 × 1019 × 7.1 × 1023 = 𝟏. 𝟕𝟏𝟏𝟏 ?× 𝟏𝟎𝟒𝟑

Exercise 3
1 a 1 × 104 × 5 × 105 = 𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎 ?𝟗 3 [Edexcel GCSE June2007-4I Q23b, June2007-
6H Q13b] In 2003 the population of Great
b 3 × 107 × 2 × 108 = 𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎 ?𝟏𝟓
Britain was 6.0 × 107
c 2.2 × 107 × 4 × 10−2 = 𝟖. 𝟖 ×?𝟏𝟎𝟓 In 2003 the population of India was 9.9 × 108
d 6 × 1014 × 5 × 105 = 𝟑 × 𝟏𝟎? 𝟐𝟎
In 1933 the population of Great Britain
e 7 × 101 × 5 × 1011 = 𝟑. 𝟓 ×?𝟏𝟎𝟏𝟑 was 4.5 × 107
f 9 × 1012 × 4 × 10−5 = 𝟑. 𝟔 ×?𝟏𝟎𝟖 Calculate the percentage increase in the
g 8 × 10−12 × 5 × 10−4 = 𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎 ?−𝟏𝟓 population of Great Britain from 1933 to
2003. Give your answer correct to one
decimal place.
2 a 5 × 107 ÷ 1 × 105 = 𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎 ?𝟐 ?
Solution: 33.3%
b 9 × 1017 ÷ 3 × 108 = 𝟑 × 𝟏𝟎 ? 𝟗

c 8 × 107 ÷ 4 × 10−2 = 𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎 ? 𝟗
4 [Edexcel IGCSE June2011-3H Q20]
𝑛
d 3 × 1014 ÷ 6 × 105 = 𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎 ? 𝟖 𝑥 = 𝑎 × 10 where 𝑛 is an integer
e 1 × 108 ÷ 4 × 103 = 𝟐. 𝟓 ×?𝟏𝟎𝟒 and 10 ≤ 𝑎 < 10
Find, in standard form, an expression for 𝑥 2 .
f 2 × 10 12 ÷ 8 × 10 −5 = 𝟐. 𝟓 ×?𝟏𝟎 𝟏𝟔
Give your expression as simply as possible.
g 1.1 × 10−12 ÷ 2.2 × 10−4 = 𝟓 × ? 𝟏𝟎−𝟗 𝒙𝟐 = 𝒂𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎𝟐𝒏
But 𝟏𝟎 ≤ 𝒂𝟐 < 𝟏𝟎𝟎
?
Therefore in standard form:
𝟏 𝟐
𝒙𝟐 = 𝒂 × 𝟏𝟎𝟐𝒏+𝟏
𝟏𝟎
Adding and Subtracting

If the powers of 10 are the

?
1000 + 2000 = 3000 same, we can effectively
‘collect like terms’.
Therefore:

1 × 103 + 2 × 103 = 3 ×?103

If the powers are not the same,

3 4
either:
(a) Convert both numbers to 4 × 10 + 2 × 10
normal numbers first, then
4 ? 4
add/subtract, then convert
back to standard form.
= 0.4 × 10 + 2 × 10
(b) Or better, change the
number with the smaller = 2.4 ×? 104
power of 10 so it matches Using strategy (b), we want to turn
the power of the larger one. the 103 into the larger power of 104 .
Since this is getting 10 times bigger,
we have to make 4 ten times smaller
to compensate.
Further Examples

5 × 107 + 4 × 106
= 5 × 107 + ? 0.4 × 107
= 5.4 × 107 ?

7 × 106 + 3.2 × 108

= 0.07 × 108 ?+ 3.2 × 108
= 3.27 × 108 ?
Exercise 4
1 1.1 × 105 + 2 × 104 = 𝟏. 𝟑 ×? 𝟏𝟎𝟓
2 1.1 × 105 − 2 × 104 = 𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎
? 𝟒

3 5 × 107 + 2 × 105 = 𝟓. 𝟎𝟐 ×
? 𝟏𝟎𝟕

4 6.2 × 10−2 + 3 × 10−3 = 𝟔. 𝟓 ×?𝟏𝟎−𝟐

5 9 × 1010 + 2 × 1012 = 𝟐. 𝟎𝟗 ×? 𝟏𝟎𝟏𝟐
6 3.2 × 10−4 − 5 × 10−5 = 𝟐. 𝟕 × ?𝟏𝟎−𝟒