The scientific notation is a lot simpler to use, plus you can begin to see a simple relationship between the number of hours and the number of bacteria, can't you?

But suppose you wanted to make a graph of the population.

Your graph would have to be 1,000,000 units tall just to get the first 6 hours onto it!

If you added another hour, you'd have to have ten times as much paper just to add one data point!

There has to be a better way.