What is scientific notation?

By definition, a positive number is in scientific notation if it is written in the form

\(a × 10^b\) where \(1 \le a \le 10\) and \(b\) is an integer.

Example 1

Light travels at approximately 299 000 km/s. This can be written in scientific notation as

\(2.99 × 10^5\) km/s.

We also say that the above notation is the standard form for a number.

If the number to be written in scientific notation is greater than 1, then the index is positive or zero.

If the number is positive and less than 1, then the index is negative.