Many veterans have seen this kind of error I'm sure, but it's the
kind of thing that is very hard to find when a student comes in to
your office complaining his solution is off by a factor of 10....
Proof that 10 raised to the power of -2 is 0.1. Try the following (go
ahead, try it):
Open Excel. Click on any empty cell. Format it as a number with 2
decimal places. Type 10E-2. Hit return. QED
(Commonly seen when students have to substitute the value of the
permeability of free space into a calculation, depending on how their
calculator inputs scientific notation.)
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Carl E Mungan, Assoc Prof of Physics 410-293-6680 (O) -3729 (F)
Naval Academy Stop 9c, 572C Holloway Rd, Annapolis MD 21402-5002 mailto:mungan@usna.eduhttp://usna.edu/Users/physics/mungan/