scientific notation

NOUN

recording numbers in powers of ten

Synonyms

WEAK

exponential notation floating-point notation standard index notation

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Atto” is the scientific notation prefix that represents 10-18, which is a decimal point followed by 17 zeroes and a 1.

From Salon • Oct. 10, 2023

TRY IT : : 5.43 Write in scientific notation: ⓐ 96,000 ⓑ 0.0078.

From Textbooks • May 6, 2020

Note that any number, no matter how large or how small, can be expressed in scientific notation.

From Textbooks • Oct. 13, 2016

Another way to look at scientific notation is that we separate out the messy numbers out front, and leave the smooth units of ten for the exponent to denote.

From Textbooks • Oct. 13, 2016

Why don’t news magazines and newspapers make appropriate use of scientific notation in their stories?

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos