Math for Life - Life: The Science of Biology, Seventh ... - WH Freeman

Math for LifeTOPIC 1: UNITS AND CONVERSIONS / Page 7Convert 5 × 10 3 Angstroms to meters.1. 5 × 10 3 Å = ? m2. There are two different units appearing.3. 5× 10 3 Å × ⎛ ⎞⎝ ⎜ ⎟⎠× ⎛ ⎞⎝ ⎜ ⎟⎠= m? NEXT4.5.5× 10 3 Å × ⎛ ⎝ ⎜ ⎞⎟ × ⎛ ⎠ ⎝ ⎜m⎞⎟⎠= ?mÅ3 13 75× 10 × ⎛ m ⎞5 10 5 10⎝1010 ⎠ = × = × −Å? mm;Å mÅNote: Nothing happened to the 5! If all you are doing is multiplying by powers of10, the mantissa is equal to 1, and anything times 1 equals itself.UNITS 1.3: More Conversions Among UnitsUse the following information when doing conversions:1. You can multiply or divide by a unit fraction without changing the meaningof an equation.2. You can cancel units.The trick to conversions is to multiply the left hand side (LHS) of the equation byunit fractions as many times as needed to make the units match the right hand side(RHS).To start, write everything down. Then write down a place to put everything beforeyou begin.BACKTOC