Scientific Notation Converter

What scientific notation is

Scientific notation writes very large or very small numbers compactly as a × 10^b, where the coefficient a is at least 1 and less than 10, and the exponent b is a whole number. The Earth–Sun distance, about 150,000,000 km, becomes 1.5 × 10⁸ km. A bacterium's width, about 0.000002 m, becomes 2 × 10⁻⁶ m.

It makes numbers easier to read, compare and multiply, and it shows clearly how many significant figures a measurement has.

How to convert by hand

• To scientific notation: move the decimal point until one non-zero digit sits in front of it. Count the moves. Moving left gives a positive exponent; moving right gives a negative one.
• Back to standard form: move the decimal point right by a positive exponent, or left by a negative one, filling gaps with zeros.

Worked examples

• 6,500,000 → move 6 places left → 6.5 × 10⁶
• 0.00042 → move 4 places right → 4.2 × 10⁻⁴
• 3.07 × 10³ → move 3 places right → 3,070