Help with simple conversion

Shamrocks320

Could somebody kindly show me the solution for this: (I am trying to convert quantities)

Convert 14 stokes into m(2)/s.

I know the conversion factor is 1 x 10(4) so it should be a case of dividing 14 by 1 x 10(4) to get 1.4 x 10(-3) m(2)/s

I do not know how to input this into the calculator to get the above answer I took from back page of book.

Could someone show me the solution please and thank you. In other words, how you would work it out with pencil and paper.

Thanks a ton(UK)

My math is very basic so that is why I am asking here!

TimeToShine

1 m(2)/s is 10000 stokes.

x m(2)/s is 14 stokes.

Cross multiplying, you get 10000x = 14 so x is 1.4/10000 m(2)/s which is the answer you posted. Look up the cross multiplication method - it works for conversion questions like these, is simple, systematic and requires next to no prerequisite knowledge. You pretty much did it out in the OP anyway!

TheBody

You are using scientific notation here. In particular, the rule for division is:

[latex]\frac{a\times 10^p}{b\times 10^q}=\frac{a}{b}\times 10^{p-q}[/latex].

In your case:

[latex]\frac{14}{1\times 10^4}=\frac{1.4\times10^1}{1\times 10^4} =1.4\times10^{-3}[/latex]

Notice how the "number bits" were divided while the powers on the 10 were subtracted.

MathsManiac

You also asked about doing it on the calculator.

Most scientific calculators have a button for "...times 10 to the power of..." and it usually has either "exp" or "EE" on it.

So, on my calculator, I would do this calculation as:

14 [divided by] 1 [exp] 4 [=]

...and I get 0.0014.

There should be another button to use when you want the calculator to display your answers in scientific notation. It might say [FSE], but different calculators are different. IF you do have an FSE button, it cycles the display through "floating point", "scientific" and "engineering" notation.

• Floating point is ordinary notation.
• Scientific is the notation you've been using in this question: (a number between 1 and 10) X (10 to the power of something).
• Engineering is (a number between 1 and 10000) X (10 to the power of a multiple of 3).