So I'm totally stumped and I know it's something absurdly simple. And I've been trying to figure it out but I'm just stuck and flustered.
I keep getting the mass wrong.
My volume is 1.15x10^15 (which I know is a good number) km(cubed), my density is 1.2 g/cm(cubed).
Now I know my mass should end up being something like 1.38x10^27 kg but basically I'm stuck on the zeros. I keep coming out with not enough. And I know it's a math issue on my part. (It may actually be ^26 or possibly even ^28 but I'm pretty sure it should be ^27.) I think my units of measure my have something to do with it but even when I think I calculate those in I still come out wrong.
So if anyone could help me get from here to there that would be incredibly helpful.
(And as a side note anyone who can tell me how to get a mac to make a (cubed) symbol in any program will be my freaking hero!)
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45,370 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 13 54
can't help with the mac issue.
I'm getting 1.38 e27 kg.
not sure what order you're doing it in, but are you also getting this:
1.38 e 30 grams?
are you converting km3 to cm3 using the conversion 1cm3 = e-15 km3?
are you converting g to kg using 1kg = e3 g?
(where "e" means " x 10 to the")
you've obviously got the right formula, so it must be one of the powers conversions that's tripping you up.
God, I must really not want to write to be doing this... *lol*
39,437 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 14 45
This was the one!
Thank you!
Now I can do all the rest of the math and get it right. Thanks so much for your help!
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34,008 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 23 10
May I stickle for a moment?
To write powers of ten, I would recommend either the form 6.02*10^23 or 6.02E23, but not 6.02e23. The little e stands for the natural logarithm and in this context could too easily confuse someone.
30,018 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 00 17
About a cubed symbol; surely you can do superscript? Just make a superscript 3.
0 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 01 26
In TextEdit:
Edit->Special Characters->Digits and you'll find superscripted numbers. If nothing else, you can enter one this way and thenm copy-paste it into your main text.
If you have a way to enter UNICODE, the symbol you want is hex 00B3 or decimal 179.
392 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 04 46
1.15x10^15 km^3 = 1.15x10^24 m^3 = 1.15x10^30 cm^3
1.15x10^30 cm^3 * 1.2g / cm^3 = 1.38x10^30 g = 1.38x10^27 kg
Not sure where to miss there? You got it right.
----------The most common misconception about the speed of light
39,437 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 05 40
So in a lot of places I've seen 6.02E+23 instead of just 6.02E23 which of these is more accurate.
And I'm going to cheaters hell because I've been using the longer format 6.02 x 10^23 cause it totally counts as 3 words then. See!....
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39,437 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 05 42
I thought I could but every time I try to use the key combo to use superscript I've found online.... I take a screenshot... what? Yeah.
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39,437 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 05 44
Yeah I've been doing this but I was hoping someone would have a key combo to do something fun and simple. Thanks!
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39,437 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 05 56
I think the thing I missed was it's been 10 plus years since done big numbers math (my budget both person and organizational isn't worthy of scientific notation ;)) and what got lost was 10^15 km^3=10^24 m^3 (I got the m=cm part right but I wasn't getting ^9 for km -->m I got just about everything but...Not sure now that I see it but yeah.)
Of course the fact that I knew what the answer was helped and made it ultra frustrating that I couldn't quite manage to get my math to come out with that answer. But now I have 10 properly massed and orbiting planets! Thanks so much to everyone for the math hand.
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45,370 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 06 47
re e/E - yeh. Point taken. I use E as shorthand only in situations like this one, and so whenever I use it, I'm naturally being lazy and usually the context is known. But still, point taken.
Using E sure is handier than the long way. In real writing, I stick to the x 10^23 format (superscripting the 23).
Loudly, are you using MSWord? Surely you can add a button to your toolbar? That's what I do. Christ, I thought you were asking about a cube root symbol. I've never found one, though the times I want one are scarce. Teach me to read too fast.
Re the mistakes. My work has involved fiddling a lot with equations that aren't particularly complicated (basic algebra) but are rife with conversions and powers of ten. I will tell you that whenever I had a problem, it was almost always an order of magnitude type error, and almost always showed up in the conversions. When working out a problem the first time, I used to always get a colleague to do it as well. Checking each others math.
39,437 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 07 10
No I'm not but that gave me an idea of how to shortcut the insert/copy/pasta thing! Thanks. (I'm using Journler for the writing and Numbers for the spreadsheets.) I do actually know where my cube root symbol is. But of course that is one I don't need (so far...yikes!).
One of the oddly difficult things is time. Distance I ended up covering pretty quickly and easily but time is complicated.
The math makes me very glad for the forums! Of the 3 people I knew 2 didn't even know what scientific notation was and the other came out with a number that was even worse than mine and then told me I was stupid for saying it was wrong /facepalm.
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