How to convert to scientific notation
- Type a number in standard form (
0.000452,299,792,458) or in scientific form (6.02e23,3 × 10^8). - Choose how many significant figures to keep, or "as entered".
- Read the result in scientific, E, engineering and standard decimal notation, and copy the format you need.
How scientific notation works
Scientific notation writes a number as a × 10ⁿ, where the coefficient a is at least 1 and less than 10, and n is a whole number. Move the decimal point until one non-zero digit is left of it, and count the moves: moving left makes n positive, moving right makes it negative. So 299,792,458 becomes 2.99792458 × 10⁸, and 0.000452 becomes 4.52 × 10⁻⁴.
E notation (2.998e8) is the same thing written for calculators, spreadsheets and programming languages. Engineering notation uses exponents that are multiples of 3, matching SI prefixes: 4.52 × 10⁻⁴ m is 452 × 10⁻⁶ m, or 452 micrometres.
Rounding is done on the decimal digits exactly as written, not with binary floating point, so very long numbers keep every digit and rounding follows the round-half-up rule taught in school. Integers ending in zeros such as 1200 are treated as having their zeros as placeholders; type 1200. or 1.200e3 if the zeros are significant.
How do I write 0.0005 in scientific notation?
5 × 10⁻⁴. The decimal point moves four places to the right to reach 5.
What does 1.5e6 mean?
1.5 × 10⁶, which is 1,500,000. The e stands for "times ten to the power of".
When should I use engineering notation?
When working with units: exponents of 3, 6 and 9 correspond directly to kilo, mega and giga, and −3, −6, −9 to milli, micro and nano.