Basic Operations
Given two numbers in scientific notation,
and
Multiplication and division are performed using the rules for operation with exponential functions:
and
Some examples are:
and
Addition and subtraction require the numbers to be represented using the same exponential part, so that the significand can be simply added or subtracted. :
Next, add or subtract the significands:
An example:
Read more about this topic: Scientific Notation
Famous quotes containing the words basic and/or operations:
“What, then, is the basic difference between today’s computer and an intelligent being? It is that the computer can be made to see but not to perceive. What matters here is not that the computer is without consciousness but that thus far it is incapable of the spontaneous grasp of pattern—a capacity essential to perception and intelligence.”
—Rudolf Arnheim (b. 1904)
“It may seem strange that any road through such a wilderness should be passable, even in winter, when the snow is three or four feet deep, but at that season, wherever lumbering operations are actively carried on, teams are continually passing on the single track, and it becomes as smooth almost as a railway.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)