Calculadora de notação científica

Scientific notation writes numbers as a coefficient × 10^exponent — useful for very large or very small values. Standard form keeps the coefficient between 1 and 10 (before rounding in display).

Moving the decimal right decreases the exponent; moving left increases it. 6,500,000 becomes 6.5 × 10⁶; 0.00042 becomes 4.2 × 10⁻⁴.

Example: the speed of light ≈ 299,792,458 m/s is often written 2.998 × 10⁸ m/s in physics. Engineers use the same form in spreadsheets and calculators.

Spreadsheet and calculator “E notation” (1.2E6) is the same idea as 1.2 × 10⁶ — the E replaces writing out the power of ten. Negative exponents denote small decimals: 3.5E-4 = 0.00035.

Significant figures live in the coefficient, not the exponent. Reporting 6.500 × 10³ implies four significant figures in the underlying measurement; 6.5 × 10³ implies two.

Worked example: 6,500,000 → move the decimal six places left → 6.5 × 10⁶. Conversely 4.2 × 10⁻⁴ expands to 0.00042 (decimal moves four places right).

Engineering notation restricts exponents to multiples of three so the coefficient aligns with metric prefixes. 6.5 × 10⁶ meters is 6.5 megameters; 6500 × 10³ uses the same value but breaks the prefix convention engineers expect on schematics and BOM line items. Metric prefixes align when exponents are multiples of three — 6.5 × 10⁶ m reads as 6.5 Mm, clearer on schematics than 6500 × 10³.

Orders-of-magnitude comparisons become readable once both values share an exponent. Earth's mass (~5.97 × 10²⁴ kg) versus a car (~1.5 × 10³ kg) differ by roughly 21 powers of ten — scientific notation keeps the exponent gap visible without counting zeros. Comparing Earth mass to a car spans ~21 orders of magnitude — shared exponents keep the gap visible without miscounting zeros by hand.

Calculator displays overflow near 10⁹⁹ on handheld devices; converting 6,500,000 to 6.5 × 10⁶ prevents silent rounding. Subscript Unicode (10⁶) is for human readers — programming languages prefer 6.5e6 literal syntax in source code. Handheld displays overflow near 10⁹⁹; 6.5e6 literal syntax in code matches 6.5 × 10⁶ for APIs that reject comma separators.