convert to scientific notation

[Randall Reetz]

I need to sleep or go back to grade 3.  Sorry everyone.  Dont report me to the math authorities!

-----Original Message-----
From: "Randall Reetz" <randall at randallreetz.com>
To: "How to use Revolution" <use-revolution at lists.runrev.com>
Sent: 4/20/2009 5:46 PM
Subject: RE: convert to scientific notation

You are correct brian.  Sorry.  But i know when i was younger and smarter i had an equasion that converted a number to scientific notation without counting digits.  Used the power "^" function somehow. 

-----Original Message-----
From: "Brian Yennie" <briany at qldlearning.com>
To: "How to use Revolution" <use-revolution at lists.runrev.com>
Sent: 4/20/2009 5:31 PM
Subject: Re: convert to scientific notation

Randall,

You want the nth root and you are doing it correctly, but have a false  
assumption (the 10th root of 100 is NOT 2). I showed how to derive  
10^x = 100, which is more relevant to scientific notation. Scientific  
notation does not involve taking the 10th root of a number, which I  
why I figure you are confused.

Example: 2,098,000 = 2.098 x 10 ^ 6

No 10th roots involved, in fact you can just count digits.

> Not confused by what i mean.  How do i get the nth root of a number?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Brian Yennie" <briany at qldlearning.com>
> To: "How to use Revolution" <use-revolution at lists.runrev.com>
> Sent: 4/20/2009 5:03 PM
> Subject: Re: convert to scientific notation
>
> Randall,
>
> I think you are confusing two different concepts.
>
> 10^2 = 100, not 2^10 = 100.
>
> What you want is something like this:
>
> Step 1) 10^x = 100
> Step 2) log 10^x = log 100
> Step 3) x log 10 = log 100
> Step 4) x = log 100 / log 10
>
> In short, you need to use logarithms and you'll get a formula where x
> = log y / log z.
>
> If you were trying to solve x^10 = 100, then you could do what you
> suggest and just raise both side to the (1/10)th power. But that
> number will not be 2 -- it's about 1.58.
>
>
>> I can't remember how to use power function "^" to find the nth root
>> of a number.  To find the 2ndth root of a number we can use the
>> "sqrt()" function.  But to find the nth root????
>>
>> For instance, lets say I want to convert a number to scientific
>> notation (the 10th root of that number)... I used to know how to use
>> the power function to do this.  Anyone remember how to do it?
>>
>> I tried to get the 10th root (scientific notation) of 100  (which
>> should = 2) by:     100^(1/10) ... but that isn't it.
>>
>> Any ideas?  I feel brain dead.
>>
>> Randall


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