take that number and move the decimal so that it has 1 number on the left and the rest on the right. then multiply that number by 10^x. where x = the number of spaces you moved (+1 for every space to the left, -1 for every space to the right)
ex.
put 31489751398479 to sci not.
-> 3.1489751398479 x 10^14
13648976198
-> 1.3648976198 x 10^10
in some cases the end numbers are "insignificant" so then we can just round up the number
ex.
120003048
-> 1.2 x 10^8
Scientists use scientific notation to compute very large or very small numbers.
Scientific notation is required for very large or very small numbers.
Scientific notation is applied wherever numbers are very large or very small.
Scientific notation is used when dealing with very small or very large numbers.
Scientific notation is useful in economics to compute very large or very small numbers.
The practical uses of scientific notation are to compute very large or very small numbers.
Very large and very small numbers are expressed in scientific notation
Scientific notation
Scientific notation is used to compute very large or very small numbers.
Scientific notation is a convenient tool for writing very large or very small numbers.
Scientific notation is used to compute very large or very small numbers.
Scientific notation makes very large or very small numbers easier to work with.