The document discusses scientific notation and powers of 10. It explains that in scientific notation, any number x can be written as the product of a number r and a power of 10, r × 10N, where 1 ≤ r < 10 and N is an integer. A positive exponent N shifts the decimal point of r to the right, while a negative N shifts it left. Converting between standard and scientific notation simply moves the decimal in r by the number of places indicated by N.