It was the year 1987, and I have encountered this (homework?) problem. Calculator is allowed.
The problem is this: Evaluate 19871988. Give 4 significant digits in scientific notation.
Whoa, my calculator can't handle a number this big! Yours probably can't either.
But WHOA, Windows' calc can handle that. Amazing.
The answer is 6.567e+6556
How do you get this without a calculator that can have this big capacity? The answer is... logarithm.
Let x = 19871988.
log both sides, bring that exponent down.
log x = 1988 log 1987
The right hand side is: 6556.81735
This means, x = 10^(6556.81735).
The exponent is 6556.
The mantissa is 10^(0.81735) = 6.567.
Isn't it pleasing to find a use of that [10^x] key?
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