Scientific and Engineering Notations

Standard Form or Scientific Notation

A number written with one digit to the left of the decimal point and multiplied by 10 raised to some power is written in standard form or with scientific notation, ex.

43712 = 4.3712 · 10⁴  

0.036 = 3.6 · 10^-2 

Engineering Notation

Engineering notation is similar to scientific notation except that the power of ten is always a multiple of 3, ex.

43712 = 43.712 · 10³ = 0.043712 · 10⁶  

0.036 = 36 · 10^-3 = 36000 · 10^-6

Units used in engineering may be made smaller or larger with the use of prefixes, ex.

4.7 kJ = 4.7 · 10³ J = 4700 J

8 MV = 8 · 10⁶ V = 8000000 V