Sharp PC-1403 - Page 73

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9 . 9 9 9999999E - 99 = . 0 000 000 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 00000000 00 00000 0 00
0 0 0000 0 0 0 0 00 00 0000000 000 0 00000000
000000 00000 0000 000 0 00 0000000000099
99 9 9 9 999
and the smallest numbe r i s :
9 . 999999999 E 9 9 = 99 9 99 9 99990 0 00000000 00 000000000000
0000 0 000 00 0 0 00 00 0000 0 00000 000 00000
0 0000 0 0000 0 00 00 0 00 0 00 00000000000
1234 5 6 7890000 is d i s p l a y ed as 1 .23 4 5 67 89 E 12
.00 0 0 00000 0 01 is d i sp l ayed as 1 . E - 1 2
Those of yo u who are unfa milia r w i t h t h i s type o f n o t a tion should t ake some time to pu t
i n a f e w very la r g e a nd very small num be r s t o no t e how t he y are display e d.
Limits
The l a rge s t n umbe r wh i ch the c o m p u te r c an han d l e i s ten s i gn i f i c ant d i g its , w i th two
digit expon e n t s . In o t h e r w o rd s , t he l argest nu m b er i s :
The comp ut e r us es scient i f i c no t a ti o n w h ene v e r num b ers be co me too l arge t o display
using dec i ma l n ot a tion. T his comput er u ses the c ap it a l l etter E to m ean "ti mes ten to
the ":
1.0 X 10 87 Of 1.0E 87
T he f i rst part ( ca ll ed m a ntiss a part ) cons i s t s of a r e gu l a r dec i ma l numbe r betwe e n 1
an d 1 0. T he second p a rt (c a lled exponent pa rt) r e p r es en t s h ow l arge or small the
nu mber is in powe rs of 1 0 .
As you know , the f irst n um b e r t o t he l ef t o f t h e dec i ma l p oi nt in a regular decimal
number sh o w s th e num b e r of 1 ' s, t h e s eco nd s h ows the num be r of 10 's, the third
t he nu mb e r of 100 ' s , and t he f o urth t h e numbe r o f 1 OOO ' s . The se are s i mply
in c reasin g po w er s of 1 0:
10 ° = 1, 10 1 = 10 , 10 2 = 10 0 , 10 3 = 1 00 0 , e t c .
Scient i fi c n o tati o n b r ea k s d own a de ci ma l nu mber into t w o parts : o n e shows what the
n u m ber s ar e, the oth e r s h o w s how fa r a n u m b e r i s to t he l e ft , o r right, o f t he d e cimal
poin t. F o r e xa mp l e :
1 234 becomes 1. 23 4 tim e s 10 3 ( 3 p l a c e s t o t he ri ght )
654321 be c om es 6 . 543 2 1 ti m es 10 5 ( 5 p l a ces to t h e ri ght )
.000125 becomes 1 . 25 ti me s 10 - 4 ( 4 pl a ce s t o the l eft)
Sc i entific notation is usefu l f o r m a ny sho rt cu ts . You can see that it wou l d take a lot o f
w r i t i n g to show 1 .0 times 10 8 7 - a 1 a n d 8 7 ze ro s ! But , i n scie nt ifi c nota ti on , t hi s numb er
l ooks l i ke this:
U s ing a s a Calculator