Scientific Notation
A standardized method of expressing very large or very small numbers in the format a × 10ⁿ, where 1 ≤ |a| < 10 and n is an integer.
Governing formula
a × 10^n
SI unit
Dimensionless
In depth
Scientific notation eliminates ambiguity regarding trailing zeros and makes calculations with extreme numerical values manageable in scientific computation.
Examples in the real world
Expressing the speed of light as 3.00 × 10⁸ m/s instead of 300,000,000 m/s, or electron mass as 9.11 × 10⁻³¹ kg.