Scientific notation
1. Move the decimal place in the original number to the left or right so that the
new number has a digit in the one's place and the rest of the number to the right
of the decimal point. (1 ≤ n < 10 ) Below are two examples
42500000 4.25
or
0.000425 4.25
2. Count the number of decimal places the decimal point has moved in step
one. If magnitude of the original number is 10 or greater, the count is positive. If
the magnitude of the original number is less than one, the count is negative
7
-4
3. Multiply the new number in step one by the 10 raised to an exponent equal to
the count found in step 2
4.25 × 10 − 4
4.25 × 107
Engineering notation
The steps are similar to those for converting to scientific notation, except that we
want the value of the exponent to be divisible by 3.
1. Move the decimal place in the original number to the left or right by groups of
three until the new number is between 1 and 1000 (1 ≤ n < 1000 )
42500000 42.5
or
0.000425 425
2. Count the number of decimal places moved in step one. If the original
number is 10 or greater, the count is positive. If the original number is less than
one, the count is negative. This number should b divisible by 3
6
-6
3. Multiply the new number in step one by the 10 raised to an exponent equal to
the count found in step 2
42.5 × 106
425 × 10 − 6
If the first number were dollars, the result would be read as 42.5 million dollars. If
the second number were grams, the resulting number would be read as 425
micro-grams