Click here to purchase the entire book in PDF format. Scientific notation Scientific notation is a method used to write very small or very big numbers without using up a lot of ink on the page. In order to write the number ``one-million,'' it is faster to write $10^{6}$ than it is to write 1,000,000. If the number is ``two-million,'' then we just multiply the appropriate number - $2 * 10^{6}$. The same system is used for very small numbers. 0.000,000,35 is more easily written as $3.5 * 10^{-7}$. A good trick to remember is that the exponent of the 10 shows you how far to move the decimal place to get the number. For example, $4.3 * 10^{3}$ means that you just move the decimal three places to the right to make the number 4300. If the number is $8.94 * 10^{-5}$ you move the decimal five places to the left (negative exponents move to the left) making the number 0.0000894. If you'd like to use scientific notation on your calculator, you use the button that's marked ``E'' (on some calculators it's marked ``EXP''). So, $6 * 10^{5}$ is entered by pressing 6 E 5.