Scientific Notation
Decimal to a × 10ⁿ and back — with e-notation and engineering form.
About this converter
Type a number in any form — plain, 6.02e23, or 6.02 × 10^23 — and read all the others at once: scientific (one digit before the point), e-notation (how calculators and code write it), engineering (exponent snapped to multiples of three), and the full decimal where it's printable. Click any row to copy.
Three notations, one idea
All three forms answer the same problem — numbers whose zeros outnumber their information. Scientific notation normalises to one leading digit, making magnitude comparisons instant (10²³ vs 10⁸ needs no counting). E-notation is the same thing flattened for keyboards: 6.02e23 — worth recognising because spreadsheets will spring it on you uninvited. Engineering notation snaps the exponent to multiples of 3 so it reads directly in SI prefixes: 4.7 × 10⁻⁶ is 4.7 micro-anything, which is why electronics speaks it natively. The mantissa's digits are exactly its significant figures — the notation that finally makes precision unambiguous — and how many to keep is that tool's whole subject.
Frequently asked questions
What is 6.02e23 in normal notation?
6.02 × 10²³ — Avogadro's number. The e means 'times ten to the'; spreadsheets and programming languages use it as the compact form.
What's the difference between scientific and engineering notation?
Scientific keeps one digit before the decimal (2.998 × 10⁸); engineering forces the exponent to a multiple of 3 (299.8 × 10⁶) so it maps directly onto kilo, mega, milli, micro.
How do I convert a small number like 0.00005?
Move the decimal until one non-zero digit leads, counting hops: five hops right gives 5 × 10⁻⁵. Negative exponents mean small; the tool does the counting.
Why does my spreadsheet show 1.23E+15?
Numbers too long for the cell get auto-converted to e-notation. It's the same value — paste it here to see it in every form, including full decimal.