Question 1

What is scientific notation?

Accepted Answer

Scientific notation writes a number as a × 10ⁿ where 1 ≤ |a| < 10 and n is an integer. For example 300000000 becomes 3 × 10⁸. It is the standard way to express very large or very small numbers in science.

Question 2

What is the difference between scientific, E, and engineering notation?

Accepted Answer

Scientific notation uses a × 10ⁿ with 1 ≤ |a| < 10. E-notation replaces the × 10 with E (3E8). Engineering notation is like scientific notation but the exponent is always a multiple of 3 and the coefficient can be between 1 and 1000, matching SI prefixes like kilo and mega.

Question 3

How do I convert a decimal to scientific notation?

Accepted Answer

Move the decimal point until you have one non-zero digit to its left. The number of moves is the exponent n; moves to the left make n positive, moves to the right make n negative. For 0.00042 you move the decimal 4 places right, giving 4.2 × 10⁻⁴.

Question 4

Does this calculator handle negative numbers and zero?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Negative numbers keep their sign in the coefficient. Zero has no standard scientific notation form because there is no non-zero leading digit, so the tool reports zero as 0 × 10⁰ by convention.