What does 5e plus 004 mean on a calculater?

Answer 1

This is a computer's method of representing scientific numbers.

The 'e' or 'E' means exponential and represents the "× 10" in the normal scientific representation.

The digits before the 'e' are the mantissa;

The digits after the 'e' are the exponent; for positive numbers the '+' is not necessary.

Thus 5e+004 = 5 × 10⁺⁰⁰⁴ = 5 × 10⁴ (= 50,000)