What is standard form?

Standard form is a convenient way to represent very large or very small numbers. By converting number to standard form, it becomes easier to do simple functions like multiplication or division. A logaritmic scale of 'base 10' is used. This essentially means that you can express a large number as a single digit with a 'multiplication note' of how many times this number number has been divided/multiplied by for it to be expressed as a single digit. It sounds more complicated than it is!

30000000 can be expressed as 3 x 10^7, where 10^7 tells the reader that '3' must be multiplied 10000000 to get to the true number. Likewise, 0.00005 can be expressed as 5 x 10^-5, where 10^-5 = 0.00001.