Final answer:
A calculator with scientific notation is used for handling large or small numerical values by expressing numbers as the product of a coefficient and a power of ten, such as 1.5 × 10¹¹ meters for the distance from Earth to the Sun.
Step-by-step explanation:
A calculator with scientific notation is primarily used for handling large or small numerical values. Scientific notation is a method of expressing numbers that are too large or too small to be conveniently written in ordinary decimal form. It is especially useful in science and engineering to simplify measurements and calculations.
Scientific notation is represented in the form of a product of a coefficient (a number between 1 and 10) and a power of ten. For example, the distance from Earth to the Sun is approximately 150,000,000,000 meters, which can be written in scientific notation as 1.5 × 10¹¹ meters.
The coefficient here is 1.5, and the exponent is 11. This format greatly simplifies the process of performing arithmetic operations on very large or very small numbers, as often encountered in fields like chemistry, physics, and astronomy.
Scientific calculators therefore can aid in carrying out arithmetic operations and expressing the final answer in scientific notation, making it a valuable tool in many scientific calculative processes.