VicayaGlobalCalculator

Scientific Notation Calculator

Convert to and from scientific notation as you type — no button to press — and see every form at once: scientific, E-notation, engineering and plain decimal. The working is shown for every answer, and none of it is behind a sign-up.

Type a decimal such as 0.000045, or scientific notation such as 4.5e-5 or 4.5 × 10^-5.

Scientific notation
4.5 × 10−5
E-notation
4.5e-5
Engineering notation
45 × 10−6
Decimal
0.000045
Significant figures
2

How it is worked out

  1. Move the decimal point 5 places right, until one non-zero digit is in front of it.
  2. The point moved 5 places right, so the exponent is −5.

Calculate with two numbers

Add, subtract, multiply or divide two numbers in scientific notation, raise one to a power, or take its square or square root. The working is shown for each.

6 × 105

6e5 · 600000

How it is worked out

  1. Multiply the coefficients, and add the exponents.
  2. 3 × 2, and 8 + (−3) = 5.
  3. Written in standard form, the answer is 6 × 105.

How to use it

  1. Type a number in either form: 0.000045, or 4.5e-5, or 4.5 × 10^-5. The page works out which you meant.
  2. Read the four forms under the box, with the count of significant figures.
  3. Read "How it is worked out" to see which way the point moved and why the exponent is what it is.
  4. To calculate with two numbers, use the second panel and pick an operation.

Also called

The same tool answers to several names: an exponential notation calculator, a standard form calculator, a scientific form or scientific number calculator, a sci notation converter, and a power calculator. They all mean writing a number as a coefficient times a power of ten.

Questions

What is scientific notation?

A way of writing a number as one digit, a decimal part, and a power of ten: 4,500,000 is 4.5 × 10^6 and 0.000045 is 4.5 × 10^-5. It keeps very large and very small numbers short enough to read and compare.

How do I convert a number to scientific notation?

Move the decimal point until exactly one non-zero digit sits in front of it, then count the places you moved. Moving left gives a positive exponent, moving right a negative one. This page shows that count for whatever you type.

What is E-notation, and is it the same thing?

It is the same number written for a keyboard or a calculator screen: 4.5e-5 means 4.5 × 10^-5. The "e" stands for exponent, not for the number e. This page gives both forms and accepts either as input.

What is engineering notation?

Scientific notation with the exponent held to a multiple of three, so it lines up with the SI prefixes: 45 × 10^-6 is 45 micro-something. The coefficient then sits between 1 and 1,000 rather than between 1 and 10.

How do I add numbers in scientific notation?

Both numbers have to be on the same power of ten first. Rewrite the one with the smaller exponent to match the larger, then add the coefficients and keep the shared power. Skipping that step is the usual mistake, so this page shows it.

How do I multiply and divide in scientific notation?

Multiply or divide the coefficients, then add the exponents when multiplying and subtract them when dividing. No matching is needed first, which is why multiplying is easier than adding here.

What is the scientific notation of 0?

Zero has none. Scientific notation needs one non-zero digit in front of the point, and zero has no non-zero digit at all.

How many significant figures does my number have?

This page counts them from what you wrote, because that is what they record. Leading zeros only place the point and never count, so 0.000045 has two. Trailing zeros count only when a decimal point is written, so 1200 has two and 1200.0 has five.

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