Fun with Numbers

[@fepeerreview3150]

Hi Bob! I'm looking forward to this systematic review. 4:33 Question for you regarding scientific notation. Are there occasions or reasons why you would use 2 digits to the left of the decimal, such as 25.01 x 10^2 instead of 2.501 x 10^3?

[@sliderulesandmathematics9232]

no, you can use it as an intermittent result, but the final form is A.BCD to clearly demonstrate significance and magnitude. I do that, as I did in the problem, to find a 'final adjustment' to the power of 10. Then I report it out in the proper format.

[@fepeerreview3150]

@@sliderulesandmathematics9232 Thanks. That makes sense.

[@Falcrist]

I would just suggest that 2500 has an ambiguous number of significant figures, and that this very ambiguity is why we tend to put so much emphasis on scientific notation. Also worth noting: on calculators with a computer algebra system, the number "2500" is NOT treated the same as the number "2500." (with the decimal point at the end). The former is an exact integer that is treated symbolically, while the latter is given a floating point representation even though it's an integer value... and treated with approximate arithmetic.

[@sliderulesandmathematics9232]

I can see why a calculator, by protocol, would view 2500. and 2500 as having a different number of significant digits. In this case I just used it to demonstrate that there is a difference in zeros to the left and right of the decimal point.

[@deepfreezzeer]

Staring off pretty simple, nothing too crazy.

[@sliderulesandmathematics9232]

it will get better....

[@JohnLeePettimoreIII]

for me, i tend to find it more natural to use powers of 3. 1 g = 10^0 1000 g = 10^3 1,000,000 g = 10^6 etc. maybe it's because i spent a LOT of time working with electronics.

[@sliderulesandmathematics9232]

Great system

[@Falcrist]

That's just "engineering notation". Most good calculators have the option.

[@JohnLeePettimoreIII]

@@Falcrist you are exactly correct. which is why i mentioned electronics. that's the default system used for that industry.

[@sliderulesandmathematics9232]

the calculator I use is the TI84 (and my iPhone scientific calculator when my boomer eyes need some backlight). Your phone has a great calculator and you can get an app to graph if you need it. I find with 3 or more degree polynomials it is helpful to graph it to get an idea of where an intercept is and then go to long or synthetic division to factor it.

[@JohnLeePettimoreIII]

@@sliderulesandmathematics9232 on my android, i use TechCalc+ (paid version) by "Roaming Squirrel". it has a ton of different calculators and features. it's not expensive. the only down-side is that the graphing isn't very good, but is still serviceable.

[@swenic]

6:04 May be because k is 10^3 g

[@sliderulesandmathematics9232]

indeed it is. I just wanted to go through all the steps.