In science, very large and very small quantities sometimes need to be measured. Writing out these numbers longhand is tedious and can lead to errors so scientists developed a shorthand method called scientific notation that works better.

Example 1: In standard decimal notation, the speed of light is 299,800,000.0 meters per second. In scientific notation this is written as 2.998x10⁸ meters per second, meaning that the true position of the decimal point is 8 digits to the right. In this case, that means filling in the empty spots with zeros. (Your calculator will read: 2.998_08)

Example 2: Bacteria are usually no smaller than 1 micrometer (µm). If we expressed that quantity in meters, it would be written as 0.000001 m. In scientific notation, this would be written as 1.0x10^-6 m. The exponent in this case is negative, so the true position of the decimal point is 6 places to the left. (Your calculator will read: 1.0_-06)