Convert any decimal number to scientific notation, or convert a coefficient and exponent back into a standard decimal number.
Scientific notation expresses very large or very small numbers as a coefficient between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of 10.
A number is written as a times 10 to the power of n, where a is the coefficient and n is the exponent indicating how many places the decimal point moves.
Use the first section to convert a regular decimal number into scientific notation, or use the second section to convert a coefficient and exponent back to decimal form.
Example 1: The number 4,500,000 becomes 4.5 times 10 to the power of 6 in scientific notation.
Example 2: The number 0.0000123 becomes 1.23 times 10 to the power of negative 5.
Why use scientific notation. It makes extremely large or small numbers easier to read, write, and compare.
What is the coefficient range. The coefficient is always between 1 and 10, not including 10 itself.