4.1: Introduction
- Page ID
- 123037
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As part of daily routine, the laboratory microbiologist often has to determine the number of bacteria in a given sample as well as having to compare the amount of bacterial growth under various conditions. Enumeration of microorganisms is especially important in dairy microbiology, food microbiology, and water microbiology.
Since the enumeration of microorganisms involves the use of extremely small dilutions and extremely large numbers of cells, scientific notation is routinely used in calculations. A review of exponential numbers, scientific notation, and dilutions is found in Appendix B.
Contributors and Attributions
Dr. Gary Kaiser (COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF BALTIMORE COUNTY, CATONSVILLE CAMPUS)