Posted by IsoM on April 5, 2002, at 15:19:30
In reply to ELIZabeth: what does ^- mean? (nm) » Elizabeth, posted by Janelle on April 5, 2002, at 14:41:23
The layout of the page Dr. Bob uses doesn't allow subscripts of superscripts to be used. So if someone wanted to write four squared equals sixteen, it would look like 4^2 = 16.
So 2^-5 = 1/32 means 2 raised to negative 5 equals 1/32. Might be a little clearer as 2^(-5). It's a simple math formula to figure out what's left after so many half-lives - in this case 5 half-lives (that's why a negative number is used).
poster:IsoM
thread:101843
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020402/msgs/102009.html