Scientific Notation Converter: Convert Numbers to and from Scientific Notation

Scientific notation is the standard way to express very large or very small numbers. Writing out 602,200,000,000,000,000,000,000 by hand is tedious and error-prone, but 6.022 x 10^23 is compact and clear. Our converter handles both directions — enter a standard number to get its scientific notation form, or enter scientific notation to see the full expanded value.

What Is Scientific Notation?

Scientific notation expresses a number as a coefficient multiplied by a power of ten:

a x 10^n

Where:

a (the coefficient) is a number between 1 and 10 (1 <= |a| < 10)
n (the exponent) is an integer that shifts the decimal point

Examples

Standard Number	Scientific Notation
299,792,458	2.99792458 x 10^8
0.00000000016	1.6 x 10^-10
6,022,000,000,000,000,000,000,000	6.022 x 10^23
-0.0042	-4.2 x 10^-3
1,000	1 x 10^3

Positive vs. Negative Exponents

Positive exponent (10^n): The number is large. The decimal point moves right by n places.
Negative exponent (10^-n): The number is small. The decimal point moves left by n places.

How to Use Our Scientific Notation Converter

Enter a standard number to convert it into scientific notation, or enter a coefficient and exponent to expand scientific notation into a standard number
Adjust precision if you need a specific number of significant figures in the coefficient
Read the result instantly — both the formatted notation and the full decimal expansion
Copy the output for use in reports, homework, or code

Where Scientific Notation Is Used

Physics and Engineering

Physical constants and measurements routinely span dozens of orders of magnitude:

Speed of light: 2.998 x 10^8 m/s
Planck’s constant: 6.626 x 10^-34 J-s
Distance to the nearest star: 4.014 x 10^16 m

Computer Science

Memory addresses, large data counts, and floating-point representations all involve scientific notation:

JavaScript’s Number.MAX_VALUE is approximately 1.7976931348623157 x 10^308
A petabyte is 1 x 10^15 bytes
IEEE 754 floating-point stores numbers internally as a mantissa and exponent

Chemistry and Biology

Molecular-scale measurements use scientific notation constantly:

Avogadro’s number: 6.022 x 10^23 mol^-1
Hydrogen atom radius: 5.3 x 10^-11 m
Bacterial cell size: roughly 1 x 10^-6 m

Finance and Economics

National GDPs, market capitalizations, and government budgets often reach into the trillions:

US GDP: approximately 2.77 x 10^13 dollars
Global data generated per day: roughly 2.5 x 10^18 bytes

Tips

The coefficient must be between 1 and 10 for proper scientific notation. If you get a result like 42.5 x 10^6, normalize it to 4.25 x 10^7.
When multiplying two numbers in scientific notation, multiply the coefficients and add the exponents: (3 x 10^4) x (2 x 10^5) = 6 x 10^9.
When dividing, divide the coefficients and subtract the exponents: (6 x 10^8) / (3 x 10^5) = 2 x 10^3.
Many programming languages use “E notation” as shorthand. For example, 2.998e8 in JavaScript means 2.998 x 10^8.
Be mindful of significant figures. The number 1.20 x 10^3 implies three significant figures (1200, with the trailing zero being significant), while 1.2 x 10^3 implies only two.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does “x 10^0” mean? Any number raised to the power of zero equals 1, so a x 10^0 is just a. The number 5 in scientific notation is 5 x 10^0.

Can negative numbers be written in scientific notation? Yes. The sign applies to the coefficient: -3.7 x 10^4 represents -37,000. The exponent indicates magnitude, not sign.

What is the difference between scientific notation and engineering notation? Engineering notation restricts the exponent to multiples of 3 (10^3, 10^6, 10^9, and so on), aligning with SI prefixes like kilo, mega, and giga. Scientific notation allows any integer exponent.

How do I type scientific notation in a spreadsheet? In Excel or Google Sheets, use the format 1.5E+08 for 1.5 x 10^8. The “E” stands for “exponent.” You can also format a cell as “Scientific” under number formatting options.

What is E notation in programming? Most programming languages use e or E to denote the exponent. For example, 6.022e23 in Python, JavaScript, or C means 6.022 x 10^23.

Try our free Scientific Notation Converter to convert numbers to and from scientific notation instantly.