How to Convert a Number to Engineering Notation
Converting a number to engineering notation is easy.Question
What is 1,230,000 in engineering notation?Step-by-Step:
1
Write the decimal point at the end of the number.
2
Move the decimal point 3 places to the left.
Is there at least 1 but no more than 3 digits to the left of the decimal point? No. There are 4 digits to the left of the decimal point.
Is there at least 1 but no more than 3 digits to the left of the decimal point? No. There are 4 digits to the left of the decimal point.
3
Move the decimal point another 3 places to the left.
Is there at least 1 but no more than 3 digits to the left of the decimal point? Yes. There is only 1 digit to the left of the decimal point.
Is there at least 1 but no more than 3 digits to the left of the decimal point? Yes. There is only 1 digit to the left of the decimal point.
4
Ignore the 0s after the last non-0 digit.
1.23 will appear in the answer.
1.23 will appear in the answer.
5
Count how many places the decimal point has been moved left. In our example, the decimal point has been moved 6 places to the left.
6
106 will appear in the answer.
7
The number in engineering notation will consist of the number between 1 and 1,000 found in Step 4 (1.23) multiplying the power of 10 found in Step 6 (106).
Answer:
We have converted the number to engineering notation:
Powers of 10
A power of 10 is 10 raised to a exponent. For example, 103 is a power of 10. The small 3 written beside the 10 means it is raised to an exponent of 3. This means 10 is multiplied by itself 3 times.
103 = 10 × 10 × 10
The answer will have 3 0s after the 1:
103 = 1,000
What Is a Multiple of 3?
The exponent of the power of 10 in engineering notation must be a multiple of 3. A multiple of 3 is a number that results from multiplying 3 by a whole number. Multiples of 3 are:
3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21...
Multiples of 3 can be negative as well:
−3, −6, −9, −12, −15, −18, −21...
This page was written by Stephen Clarke.
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