Standard form

Standard form

Science teachers simply need to stop referring to the use of pre-fixes as standard form. Standard form has a specific meaning in the Mathematics curriculum and it does not apply in science.

Standard from in Maths

In mathematics a standard form number must be comprised of the following.

A single digit (possibly followed with a decimal point and decimal numbers). Then x10 to a power.

Pre-fixes in Science

Science is a language, much is communicated verbally. Numbers are not easy to communicate verbally so in science it makes sense to speak in pre-fixes.

For example, laser physics deals a lot with viable light. Visible light is between 400-700 x10⁹ so we tend to communicate verbally in nano meters. This effects the maths in this discipline where wavelengths are written in nano meters not obeying the standard form rules of maths.

The wavelength of red light in mathematics is it 6.8 x10^-7. This is standard form.

In science it is 680nm and we say six hundred and eighty nanometers.

In number form it is 680 x10^-9, this is not standard form, I propose we call it pre-fix form.