Scientific Notation Converter
Convert numbers to scientific, E and engineering notation with your chosen significant figures.
Your inputs
Results
Scientific notation
4.57 × 10^-4
- E notation
- 4.57e-4
- Engineering notation
- 457 × 10^-6
- Decimal form (rounded)
- 0.000457
- Order of magnitude
- -4
✓Exact calculation — rounded only for display
What this calculator does
Scientific notation writes numbers as a mantissa between 1 and 10 times a power of ten — handy for very large and very small values.
Formula and method
x = m × 10^e with 1 ≤ |m| < 10; engineering notation uses exponents that are multiples of 3.
Worked example
Calculated by this tool with its default inputs:
Inputs
- Number (plain or E notation, e.g. 0.000456 or 6.02e23): 0.00045678
- Significant figures: 3
Results
- Scientific notation: 4.57 × 10^-4
- E notation: 4.57e-4
- Engineering notation: 457 × 10^-6
- Decimal form (rounded): 0.000457
- Order of magnitude: -4
How to read the results
The exponent is the order of magnitude.
Assumptions and limitations
- Rounding to significant figures uses exact decimal arithmetic.
Questions
What is engineering notation?
Like scientific notation but with exponents in steps of three, matching SI prefixes (kilo, mega, milli…).
Methodology and verification
- Result type
- Exact mathematical calculation (rounded only for display)
- Formula version
- 1.0
- Automated verification
- 4 reference and validation test cases, checked against independently computed values. The site cannot be built if any of them fail.
- Editorial review
- Awaiting human editorial review. The explanation was drafted with AI assistance; the formula and examples are verified by the automated tests above.
Privacy
Everything you enter is calculated in this browser and is not sent to Numerith or anyone else. Inputs are added to a share link only if you choose to include them. Privacy policy