Answer:
Step-by-step explanation:
The terms "characteristic" and "mantissa" refer to parts of the logarithm of a number. Their values will be different, depending on the base of logarithms used.
The base 10 (common) logarithm of 8 is ...
log(8) ≈ 0.90309
The characteristic is the integer portion of the logarithm: 0.
The mantissa is the fractional portion of the logarithm: 0.90309.
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Additional comment
To be more technically precise, the "characteristic" is the "floor" of the logarithm: the greatest integer not greater than the log value. For example, the characteristic of log(0.003) = -2.522879 is -3. The mantissa is the (positive) fractional value after the characteristic is subtracted. The mantissa of log(0.003) is 0.477121.
The mantissa can always be found in log tables. It corresponds to the log of a value between 1 and 10. The characteristic is the exponent of 10 the number would have if it were written in scientific notation.
0.003 = 3×10^-3
log(0.003) = log(3) + log(10^-3) = -3 +log(3) = characteristic + mantissa
