5. BONUS: Mathematical Operations and Functions
Addition and Subtraction Operations
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So here when you add or subtract values in scientific notation they must have the same exponents. So the coefficients will add or subtract depending on what operation is going on but the exponents remain constant. So here we have a times 10 to the x minus b times 10 to the x. Again, both of them must have the same exponent, so the same power, in order to add or subtract with one another. So here this would just become a minus b times 10 to the x. And then if we are adding them it would be again times 10 to the x. Now there will come situations where the exponents do not match, what do we do in those situations? We are going to say if the exponents are not the same then we transform the smaller value so that they do. So let's say that you had one value that was times 10 to the 8 and the other one was times 10 to the 5. You would have to increase the 10 to the 5 to 10 to the 8 so that both of them would have the same exponent. Then we can either subtract or add them together. Now it says remember when adding or subtracting values that the final answer must have the least number of decimal places. When it comes to adding or attracting, we want least number of decimal places in our coefficient. When we are multiplying or dividing it is least number of significant figures. Now that we have learned the basics in terms of these operations, let's take a look at example 1. You can attempt to try to do it on your own, if you get stuck, come back and take a look at my video and see how I approach this very question.
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