Scientific notation or standard form is a compact way of writing very big or very small numbers. As the name suggests, scientific notation is frequently used in science. For example:
The sun has a mass of approximately 1.988\times 10^{30} kg which is much easier to write than 1988\,000\,000\,000\,000\,000\,000\,000\,000\,000 kg.
The mass of an atom of Uranium (one of the heaviest elements) is only approximately 3.95\times 10^{-22} g. That is 0.000\,000\,000\,000\,000\,000\,000\,395 g.
The following applet demonstrates how a decimal number is written in the scientific notation. Try entering various numbers up to 10 decimal places.
In writing a scientific notation, the coefficient or decimal number must be greater than or equal to 1 and less than 10, and the power of ten can be determined by counting how many places the decimal point has shifted.
In scientific notation, numbers are written in the form a\times 10^n, where a is a decimal number between 1 and 10 and n is an integer (positive or negative).
A negative index indicates how many factors of ten smaller than a the value is.
A positive index indicates how many factors of ten larger than a the value is.
A index of zero indicates that the value is a because 10^0=1.
Express 0.000\,347 in scientific notation.
Express the following number as a basic numeral: 2\times 10^7
Express the following number in scientific notation: 84\,245\,000
Express the following number as a decimal number: 3.62\times 10^{-4}
In scientific notation, numbers are written in the form a\times 10^n, where a is a decimal number between 1 and 10 and n is an integer (positive or negative).
A negative index indicates how many factors of ten smaller than a the value is.
A positive index indicates how many factors of ten larger than a the value is.
A index of zero indicates that the value is a because 10^0=1.