Scientific notation converter
Enter a number in ordinary form, as E-notation (1.5e-3) or as a times-ten power (6.02 x 10^23). The converter shows it as scientific notation, engineering notation with exponents in steps of three, E-notation and the plain decimal.
Runs in your browser: nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
How to use it
- Type or paste a number in any accepted form.
- Copy whichever notation you need: scientific, E-notation or engineering. Each has its own Copy button.
- The plain decimal is shown as well, unless it would be longer than 300 characters.
How it works
The input is read as exact decimal digits and a power of ten, with no floating-point rounding. The scientific form puts the point after the first non-zero digit and sets the exponent to match; the engineering form picks the nearest lower multiple of three for the exponent and moves the point accordingly.
Worked examples
- 123456.789 = 1.23456789 × 10^5 = 123.456789 × 10^3 (engineering).
- 0.00045 = 4.5 × 10^-4 = 450 × 10^-6 (engineering).
- 6.022 x 10^23 = 602,200,000,000,000,000,000,000, Avogadro’s number as usually rounded.
- 1.5E-3 = 0.0015.
Tips
- The exponent in scientific notation is the order of magnitude, shown as its own line.
- In writing, 3.0 × 10^8 and 3 × 10^8 mean different precisions; this converter drops trailing zeros and does not track significance.
Frequently asked questions
What is scientific notation?
A way to write a number as a coefficient between 1 and 10 (or -10 and -1) times a power of ten. 123,456 becomes 1.23456 × 10^5 and 0.00045 becomes 4.5 × 10^-4. It keeps very large and very small numbers short.
What is engineering notation?
It is scientific notation with the exponent restricted to multiples of three, so the coefficient is between 1 and 1000. 0.00045 is 450 × 10^-6, which lines up with unit prefixes such as milli, micro and kilo.
What does E-notation like 1.5e-3 mean?
The e stands for "times ten to the power of": 1.5e-3 means 1.5 × 10^-3 = 0.0015. Calculators, spreadsheets and programming languages use it because it can be typed on one line.
How are trailing zeros treated?
They are dropped, because the value is the same: 1500 becomes 1.5 × 10^3. If you need to show how many digits are significant, use the significant figures calculator, which keeps trailing zeros.
Which input formats are accepted?
Plain numbers (with a comma or space between digit groups), E-notation with e or E, and times-ten forms written with x, ×, * or a dot, such as 6.022 x 10^23, 2.5*10^(-4) or 3×10⁸. A bare 10^-3 is read as 1 × 10^-3. The exponent can be between -1000 and 1000.