Arithmetic : Decimals

Scientific Notation and Decimals

Scientific notation is a representation where decimals are expressed as the product of a number with just one digit to the left of the decimal point and a power of 10.
For example in scientific notation, 823 = 8.23 × 10², 82.3 = 8.23 × 10¹, 0.823 = 8.23 × 10⁻¹, and 0.0823 = 8.23 × 10⁻².

The exponent of 10 gives the number of places the decimal point is to be moved to obtain the product.
A positive exponent moves the decimal point to the right and a negative exponent moves the decimal point to the left.
For example, 3.194 × 10⁴ = 31940 and 3.194 × 10⁻⁴ = 0.0003194