MKTG 313 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Tennis Ball, Scientific Notation, Astronomical Object
18 Aug 2018
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Document Summary
In astronomy, distances are so large that it is hard to put them in perspective, since we are used to human scales. Astronomical distances indeed require units that are larger than kilometers (or miles); for example, astronomical units (au) are utilized within the solar system, and light years (ly) or parsecs (pc) are used for interstellar and intergalactic distances. Read the basic explanation of these math tools below, before attempting the pre-lab quiz, which is due before the class. A number in scientific notation, which is useful when dealing with very large and very small numbers, has the following compact form: A x 10b where a (the coefficient) is a number between 1 and 9. 99 and can be either positive or negative, and b (the exponent) can be any whole number, positive or negative. If b is positive, it means that the number is very large. For example: 5 109 is 5 followed by 9 zeroes: 5,000,000,000, or 5 billion.
