Scientific Notation Calculator
Pick Convert or Arithmetic. Convert turns a standard number into scientific notation, or a coefficient and an exponent back into a standard number. Arithmetic adds, subtracts, multiplies or divides two numbers written as coefficient × 10^exponent and shows the steps. The calculator works on the digits you type without rounding them and takes whole exponents from -1000 to 1000. It rounds the normalized coefficient to 8 decimal places.
How to use the Scientific Notation Calculator
- Enter your numbers in the Scientific Notation Calculator above.
- Press the Convert or Calculate button to see the result.
- To try other numbers, change any value and press the button again.
The scientific notation format
a × 10^b where 1 ≤ |a| < 10
a is the coefficient (also called mantissa or significand); b is the exponent. The calculator writes the power of ten as 10^b, so 3.5 × 10⁶ shows as 3.5 × 10^6.
Worked example
3,500,000 converts to 3.5 × 10^6, and 0.000042 to 4.2 × 10^-5. In reverse, 4.56 × 10^-4 converts to 0.000456. Multiply 2 × 10^4 by 3 × 10^2 and the calculator multiplies the coefficients and adds the exponents: 6 × 10^6. Divide 8 × 10^5 by 2 × 10^2 and it divides the coefficients and subtracts the exponents: 4 × 10^3.
Frequently asked questions
What is engineering notation?
Variant of scientific notation where the exponent is always a multiple of 3 (kilo, mega, giga, milli, micro). 50,000 = 50×10³ in engineering notation, but 5×10⁴ in scientific. This calculator shows scientific notation only.
How do I add numbers in scientific notation?
Convert to the same exponent first. (3×10⁴) + (2×10³) = (3×10⁴) + (0.2×10⁴) = 3.2×10⁴. In Arithmetic mode, Add shows that sum as 32,000 and, normalized, as 3.2 × 10^4.
Why is this notation useful?
It writes very large and very small numbers in a few characters, and the coefficient shows how many significant figures a value has. 0.000042 has two, which 4.2 × 10^-5 makes plain.