Powers of Ten

Each increasing power of 10 adds one zero (10¹=10, 10²=100, 10³=1,000), and dividing by a power of 10 removes zeros or shifts the decimal left — revealing the deep connection between the base-10 number system and exponential notation.

Multiplying by 10ⁿ shifts the decimal point n places to the right, while dividing by 10ⁿ shifts it n places to the left — the exponent directly tells students how many places to move the decimal, making this a powerful computation shortcut.

Scientific notation for very large or small quantities (e.g., the distance from Earth to the Sun is about 1.5 × 10¹¹ meters) uses powers of 10, and metric system conversions are all based on powers of 10 — making this skill central to both math and science.