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Mathagony Aunt
Wendy Fortescue-Hubbard

Setting the standard

I am a support teacher,
with responsibility for a
particular pupil.
Recently the class has
been learning about
standard form and my pupil has found
this difcult. How can I help him?

First, revisit powers of

10 so that he understands how to represent
multiples of 10 in index
form. Begin with
representing 1,000 as 103 and 100 as
102. Ask him what he notices about
each number and its index number,
and demonstrate that 100 is 10 X 10
on the calculator. Do the same with
1,000. Set up a table as I have shown,
but with gaps,
and work with
your pupil to ll
it correctly.
Make sure he
understands
that the negative index means a
reciprocal of 10 to the stated power. So
102 = 110 = 110x10 = 0.01. Once again,
look at the pattern in the zeros. Note
that the powers of 10 are negative for
small numbers (less than 1), positive
for large numbers.
For students with writing difculties,
write each of the values in their
different formats on separate cards

and ask the student to sort them into

the correct positions on the table a
simple but effective exercise which
allows discussion as well.
On exam papers, candidates might
be asked to write a number in the form
a x 10n where 1 a < 10 and n is an
integer. This is the general
representation of standard form
make sure your pupil is familiar with it.
What it actually means is that a
decimal number is changed into
standard form while keeping its original
value. So the non-posh explanation? I
tell students that the rst part has to be
digitdotdigit/s so there has to be
only one digit before the decimal place
and this digit has to be a number
between one and nine inclusive. Write
down, say, 74.32 ask if this is the same
as 7.432. Ask why it isnt the same and
how you can make the second number
have the same value. So 7.432 x 101
that is multiplying by a power of 10
would keep the original value the same.
Have a set of cards with various
numbers written in standard form and
some that arent, and ask your student
to decide which are in standard form
(readers can email me if they would like
a set). Having established that the
student understands the form required,
I suggest you demonstrate how to
change between the two formats.
For example: change 3458 to

decimal point is already in the correct

position; the standard form is,
therefore, 7.678 x 100, as the decimal
point hasnt moved.
This method also works in reverse
that is, in changing from standard form
to a decimal number. For example, take
5.58 x 104. This time, write 5.58 and
draw the dotted line in the decimal point
position. The 104
indicates that the
decimal number is
going to be bigger than
5.58 by four places, so
draw four short lines, two beneath the
two digits after the point (5 and 8), as
seen in the diagram; then draw a dotted
line vertically at the end to indicate the
new position of the decimal point. Filling
the blank spaces with zeros, the standard
form for 5.58 x 104 becomes 55800.
For negative powers of 10, eg 3.8 x
103, write 3.8 as before, with the dotted
line through the decimal point. The 3
suggests that this is a small number, so
this time underline spaces counting to
the left of the
dotted line. Draw
another dotted
line at the end of
these and ll the
spaces with zeros.
Write another zero before the decimal
point, as a standard notation. So
3.8 x 10-3 becomes 0.0038.

standard form. For standard form we

require digitdotdigit/s. The
decimal point is to the right of the 8 at
the moment. What is required is one
digit, and then the decimal point. The
new position of the point would be
between 3 and 4. Draw a dotted line to
show where the new position is to be
and another
dotted line in
the old position.
Underline each
of the digits between the lines (here
there are three). This tells us the power
of 10 that is required in order to keep
the value of the original number the
same. So 3458 becomes 3.458 x 103.
Demonstrate this again with another
example, where the decimal point is
more obvious eg 85.06. Using the
dotted lines again gives us
85.06 = 8.506 x 101.
Next, tackle negative indices eg
0.056. Once again, remind your
student of the digitdotdigit rule.
The decimal point should be between
the 5 and 6 (O is not in the range).
Then, using the
dotted line rule
as before, ask
your student if 0.056 is a large or small
number. As it is small, we require a
negative index. So 0.056 = 5.6 x 10-2 in
standard form.
For a number such as 7.678, the

Brainteasers

Email your questions to

Mathagony Aunt at
[email protected]
Or write to
TES Teacher,
Admiral House,
66-68 East Smitheld,
London E1W 1BX

Next
week in

Puzzles to test mathematical skills, set by Anita Straker. Solutions below

More brainteasers on www.tes.co.uk/teacher/brainteasers

Usual suspects

Star crazy

Inspector Morse interviewed three suspects after a

daytime robbery that he knew was a one-man job.
Morse also knew that each suspect told him one false
and one truthful statement.
Slick Jim said: It wasnt me.
Burglar Bill didnt do it.
Burglar Bill said: It wasnt
me. And it wasnt Dodgy
Dick.
Dodgy Dick said: I didnt do it. And Slick Jim and
Burglar Bill were at the races with me.
The Inspector knew immediately who the culprit was
and arrested him. Who did the inspector arrest?

Use all the

numbers 1
to 10.
Put one number
in each empty
circle.

Wendy Fortescue-Hubbard
is a teacher and game
inventor. She has been
awarded a three-year
fellowship by the National
Endowment for Science,
Technology and the Arts
(NESTA) to spread maths
to the masses.
www.nesta.org.uk

11

Teacher
Free poster
The shape of
Christmas
presents

12

Do it so that
each line of
numbers has a
total of 26.

Subject Focus
Drama: 8 pages
of ideas and
inspiration
The Inside Story
Thanksgiving
The Big Picture
Chinese Lady at
the Royal
Academy

10

SOLUTIONS Usual suspects (Age 7-12) Morse arrested Burglar Bill. Assume that Slick Jims statement that it wasnt him is false, so he is the burglar. His second
statement must be true so Burglar bill didnt do it. In that case both the statements that Burglar Bill made, that it wasnt him and it wasnt Dodgy Dick, were both true, which is
not possible. Assume that Slick Jims rst statement is true. So Burglar Bill did it. Burglar Bills rst statement, that it wasnt him, is therefore false, and his second statement,
that it wasnt Dodgy Dick, is true. Dodgy Dicks rst statement that it wasnt him is true, and his statement that they were all at the races is false. So Burglar Bill is the culprit.

9
8

Star crazy
(Age 13-16)

6
11

12
7

NOVEMBER 18 2005 n TES TEACHER

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