Scientific notation should have...
two parts
Part One
- a number greater than or equal to one but less than ten- should only contain the significant figures from the original number > example: 0.00016 = 1.6 x 10^-4
Part Two
- a power of ten (10^x)- requires us to see how far we moved the decimal place in order to determine the power > example: 0.00016 we moved it four times to the left, so the exponent will be negative (right = positive, left = negative)