How this calculator works
Scientific notation writes a non-zero number as a mantissa times an integer power of ten, with mantissa magnitude at least one and below ten. Conversion rounds the mantissa half away from zero to six significant digits and adjusts the exponent if rounding reaches ten. Expansion shifts decimal digits exactly for the received mantissa, within exponents -1000 to 1000. Very long numeric inputs may already have lost digits.
Formula
x = a × 10^b, where 1 ≤ |a| < 10 and b is an integer. Moving the point left increases b; moving it right decreases b.
Worked example
0.000256 = 2.56 × 10^-4. In the other direction, 3.5 × 10^-2 = 0.035.
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Frequently asked questions
Why does zero return an error?
Zero can be written as zero times any power of ten, but it has no unique normalised mantissa with magnitude at least one.
Does expansion preserve every entered digit?
It preserves the decimal spelling of the received numeric mantissa. Numeric inputs have finite precision, so arbitrary-length strings require a text-based converter.
What exponent range is accepted in expansion mode?
From -1000 to 1000. Outside that range the form rejects the entry instead of shifting the decimal point.