Quick start
- Choose To scientific or To standard.
- Enter the standard number, or enter the coefficient and exponent.
- Press Convert notation.
- Review the notation, standard form, coefficient, exponent, and steps.
Scientific notation basics
Scientific notation writes a number as a coefficient times a power of 10. In normalized form, the coefficient is at least 1 and less than 10, except when the original number is zero.
A positive exponent moves the decimal to the right in standard form. A negative exponent moves it to the left.
When to use it
Scientific notation is useful for very large and very small values in science, chemistry, physics, astronomy, and engineering examples.
If you need exact whole-number arithmetic with huge integers, use the Big Number Calculator instead.
Examples from the calculator
4.5 x 10^6
4.2 x 10^-4
602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
History, privacy, and copying
Recent answers stay visible in the page while you work. The history is kept only in the current browser tab and is not sent to a server.
Copy answer copies the expression and result so you can paste it into notes, homework, a message, or another document.