Scientific Notation Calculator
Convert between decimal numbers and scientific (E) notation in both directions.
Decimal → scientific notation
Scientific notation → decimal
Standard form from E-notation: 149,600,000
Formula
How this is calculated
Scientific notation rewrites any number as a × 10ⁿ, where the mantissa a satisfies 1 ≤ |a| < 10 and the exponent n is an integer. Going decimal → scientific, the tool counts how many places the decimal point must shift so exactly one nonzero digit sits to its left: a left shift (large numbers) gives a positive n, a right shift (numbers below 1) gives a negative n. Your "significant digits" choice sets how many digits the mantissa keeps; internally it rounds to (digits − 1) decimal places, so 4 significant digits means 3 places after the point.
Going scientific → decimal, the input is normalized (1.496 × 10^8, 1.496e8, and 1.496E8 are all accepted) and evaluated as a plain number, effectively multiplying the mantissa by 10ⁿ.
Results inherit JavaScript double-precision limits: about 15–17 significant figures and exponents roughly between 10^−308 and 10^308. Beyond that, digits are rounded or values overflow to infinity. The mantissa and exponent are shown separately, and rounding is half-to-even at the chosen precision.
About this calculator
Scientific notation expresses a number as a mantissa between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of ten. It makes very large or very small numbers compact and easy to compare. For example, 149,600,000 becomes 1.496 × 10⁸.
This calculator converts a decimal number into scientific notation with your chosen number of significant digits, and also parses E-notation (such as 1.496e8) back into a standard decimal value. The mantissa and exponent are listed separately for clarity.
Frequently asked questions
The mantissa (or coefficient) is the decimal part of scientific notation, a number with absolute value at least 1 and less than 10. In 1.496 × 10⁸ the mantissa is 1.496.
The "e" stands for "times ten to the power of," so 1.496e8 means 1.496 × 10⁸ = 149,600,000.
Use a negative exponent. For example 0.00042 becomes 4.2 × 10⁻⁴, since you move the decimal point four places to the right.
Also known as
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. (2026). Scientific Notation Calculator [Online calculator]. TG we-Calculate. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/scientific-notation-calculator
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. "Scientific Notation Calculator." TG we-Calculate. 2026. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/scientific-notation-calculator.
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team, "Scientific Notation Calculator," TG we-Calculate, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://we-calculate.com/calculator/scientific-notation-calculator
@misc{wecalculate_scientific_notation_calculator, title = {Scientific Notation Calculator}, author = {{TG we-Calculate Editorial Team}}, howpublished = {\url{https://we-calculate.com/calculator/scientific-notation-calculator}}, year = {2026}, note = {TG we-Calculate} }
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