Scientific Notation Converter
Convert any number to and from scientific notation, E notation and engineering notation — free and instant. Everything is calculated locally in your browser.
Accepts plain decimals, E notation (1.2e5), caret notation (3 × 10^8, 3*10^8) and thousands separators.
How to use the Scientific Notation Converter
- Type or paste your number. Enter it in any common format: an ordinary decimal like 0.00045, E notation like 4.5e-4, or caret notation like 4.5 × 10^-4.
- Read all four forms at once. The converter instantly shows the normalized scientific notation, E notation, engineering notation and the fully written-out decimal.
- Copy the form you need. Every output has its own copy button, so you can paste the result straight into a report, spreadsheet or homework answer.
About this tool
Scientific notation writes a number as a coefficient between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of ten — for example, the speed of light 299,792,458 m/s becomes 2.99792458 × 108. E notation is the calculator-friendly version of the same idea (2.99792458e8), while engineering notation restricts the exponent to multiples of three (299.792458 × 106) so it lines up with SI prefixes like kilo, mega, milli and micro. This converter translates between all of these forms in both directions, which makes it handy for physics and chemistry classes, lab reports and datasheets.
Because the tool works on the digits themselves rather than floating-point values, it converts very large and very small numbers without rounding errors — you can paste a number with dozens of digits and every digit is preserved. All conversions happen locally in your browser: nothing is uploaded, logged or stored anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between scientific notation and E notation?
They express exactly the same thing. Scientific notation uses the multiplication form m × 10^n, while E notation compresses it to mEn (or men) so it fits on calculator displays and in programming languages. 6.02 × 10^23 and 6.02e23 are identical values.
What is engineering notation?
Engineering notation is scientific notation with the exponent forced to a multiple of 3, so the coefficient falls between 1 and 999.999… For example 0.00045 becomes 450 × 10^-6 instead of 4.5 × 10^-4. This matches SI prefixes: 450 × 10^-6 reads directly as 450 micro-units.
How do I convert a negative exponent back to a decimal?
A negative exponent means the number is smaller than 1: move the decimal point left by that many places. Type something like 7.1e-5 into the converter and the decimal form output shows the result, 0.000071, with all placeholder zeros written out.
Why does the decimal form sometimes show a dash?
If the exponent is beyond about ±1000, the fully expanded decimal would need more than a thousand zeros, so the tool keeps the compact notations and skips the impractical expansion. The scientific, E and engineering forms are always shown.