What is scientific notation?
Scientific notation writes very large or very small numbers as a coefficient multiplied by a power of 10. The coefficient is kept between 1 and 10, which makes the number easier to read and compare.
When to use scientific notation
Scientific notation is useful for measurements such as microscopic lengths, astronomical distances, populations, masses, and values that would otherwise need many leading or trailing zeros.
Scientific notation in physics and chemistry
Physics and chemistry rely on scientific notation for constants, quantities of particles, wavelengths, decay rates, and energy values. It keeps calculations readable without losing scale.
E notation in computing
Calculators, spreadsheets, and programming languages often write scientific notation using E. For example, 6.022E23 means 6.022 x 10^23.