Scientific Notation Converter
Type a number in any form, such as 123456, 0.00056, 6.02214076e23 or 3.2 x 10^-5, and see it in scientific notation, E notation, engineering notation and plain decimal form. You can round to a number of significant figures, and the tool shows the SI prefix for the engineering exponent. The digits are handled as text, so nothing is lost to rounding. Everything runs in your browser.
Scientific notation writes a number as a mantissa from 1 up to (not including) 10, times a power of ten: 123,456 is 1.23456 x 10^5. Engineering notation keeps the exponent a multiple of three, so the mantissa runs from 1 to 999.999, which matches the SI prefixes (kilo, mega, milli, micro). The digits are handled as text, so a number with 50 digits keeps all of them, and rounding to significant figures rounds half up on the exact digits. A number typed without a decimal point has its trailing zeros treated as placeholders, so 1200 has two significant figures, while 1200. or 1.200e3 has four. Everything is worked out in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
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Math & MoneyAbout the Scientific Notation Converter
Scientific notation writes a number as a mantissa from 1 up to (but not including) 10, multiplied by a power of ten, so 123,456 is 1.23456 x 10^5 and 0.00056 is 5.6 x 10^-4. E notation is the same thing as programming languages write it, 1.23456e+5. Engineering notation keeps the exponent a multiple of three, so the mantissa runs from 1 to 999.999 and lines up with the SI prefixes: 12,345.678 is 12.345678 x 10^3, or 12.345678 kilo. The tool reads a number written with or without an exponent, with commas as thousands separators, and in the form 3.2 x 10^5. All of the work is done on the digits as text, so a number with 50 digits keeps every one, and rounding to significant figures rounds half up on the exact digits: 0.0009995 to 3 figures is 1.00 x 10^-3, with the carry handled correctly. Significant figures are counted as typed. A whole number written without a decimal point, such as 1200, counts its trailing zeros as placeholders, so it has two significant figures, while 1200. or 1.200e3 has four. The plain decimal form is shown when it needs no more than 300 digits. Nothing is uploaded.
How do I convert a number to scientific notation?▾
Move the decimal point until one non-zero digit is left of it, then multiply by 10 raised to the number of places you moved it. Moving left gives a positive exponent and moving right a negative one. So 123,456 becomes 1.23456 x 10^5 and 0.00056 becomes 5.6 x 10^-4.
What is the difference between scientific and engineering notation?▾
Scientific notation always has one digit before the point, so the exponent can be any whole number. Engineering notation restricts the exponent to multiples of three, which matches the SI prefixes. 12,345 is 1.2345 x 10^4 in scientific notation and 12.345 x 10^3 in engineering notation.
How many significant figures does a number have?▾
Count the digits from the first non-zero digit to the last, including zeros between and after digits when a decimal point is present. 0.00560 has three, 1.200e3 has four, and 1200 written plainly is counted as two. Enter a number of figures in the rounding box to shorten it.
What is E notation?▾
It is scientific notation typed on one line: 1.5e3 means 1.5 x 10^3, which is 1500, and 2e-4 means 0.0002. Programming languages and calculators use it. The tool accepts it as input and writes it as output.
Is my number uploaded or rounded?▾
No. The conversion runs in your browser, and the digits are handled as text, so a very long number is not rounded unless you ask for significant figures. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.