Standard (index) form is a shorthand way of writing a very large or a very small number.
It is written as a number between 1 and 10 (but not equal to 10) multiplied by a power of 10, for example 2.94 × 102 or 4.8 × 10-3.
In this worksheet, we will just look at very small numbers.
Example
Change 5.83 × 10-6 into a normal number.
Answer
We divide 5.83 by 10 six times.
Each digit therefore moves 6 places to the right.
This gives the number 0.00000583.
Other Examples
1.122 × 10-7 = 0.0000001122
6 x 10-8 = 0.00000006