← All parts of this equation

Equation 6 · Part 3 · Comparing the Main Approaches to Scientific Instruments and Metrology

multiplication

h≈5×10−22h \approx 5 \times 10^{-22}
multiplication

What this part means

Multiply the quantities on either side.

Its job in the formula

Multiply the quantities on either side.

The passage around this formula

The instruments above resolve structure at short length scales. A different family of instruments — laser interferometers — pushes precision along a single dimension (typically a length or a phase difference) to an extreme that has little to do with spatial resolution in the microscopy sense. Ground-based gravitational-wave interferometers are the sharpest publicly documented example: designed to detect a fractional change in arm length, expressed as strain, as small as roughly h ≈\approx 5 ×\times 10^{-22} — a distortion far smaller than a proton’s diameter integrated over a kilometers-long arm [ 10 ] . Reaching that sensitivity is a story about noise budgeting rather than a single dominant…

Read this part in the article →

Learn the underlying idea

Multiplication scales one quantity by another. A dot, a cross, or adjacent symbols can indicate a product.

Open the illustrated multiplication: combining factors guide →

Sources cited in the surrounding passage

These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.