scientific notation

American

noun

a method for expressing a given quantity as a number having significant digits necessary for a specified degree of accuracy, multiplied by 10 to the appropriate power, as 1385.62 written as 1.386 × 10 3 .

scientific notation Scientific

A method of expressing numbers in terms of a decimal number between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of 10. The scientific notation for 10,492, for example, is 1.0492 × 10 ⁴.

Etymology

Origin of scientific notation

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Atto” is the scientific notation prefix that represents 10-18, which is a decimal point followed by 17 zeroes and a 1.

From Salon • Oct. 10, 2023

In the following exercises, write each number in scientific notation.

From Textbooks • May 6, 2020

Use scientific notation to find the number of km in one orbit.

From Textbooks • Oct. 13, 2016

This will give you good practice with scientific notation, since the numbers involved are very large!

From Textbooks • Oct. 13, 2016

Why don’t news magazines and newspapers make appropriate use of scientific notation in their stories?

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023