Powers of ten

Power is the number of times a number is to be multiplied by itself.

This is 10 to the power of 2

10²

10² = 10 x 10 = 100

This is 10 to the power of three

10³

10³ = 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000

This is 10 to the power of ten

10¹⁰

10¹⁰ = 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 10000000000

It’s easier writing 10¹⁰ than 10000000000

Can we make writing other numbers with lots of zeros easier?

What about 3450000000000?

This number is the same as 345 x 10000000000

Which is the same as 345 x 10¹⁰

This is the same as 3.45 x 10¹²

To see this we can see that 3.45 x 100 = 345

When we multiply by 10, it is like moving the decimal place to the right by one position. 3.45 x 10 = 34.5

When we multiply by 100, it is like moving the decimal place two places to the right 3.45 x 100 = 345

So, 345 x 10¹⁰ = 3.45 x 100 x 10¹⁰ = 3.45 x 10² x 10¹⁰ = 3.45 x 10¹²