How do you convert small and big numbers to scientific notation?

Answer 1

First, you move the decimal to have only one place to the left of the decimal.

Examples:

For 84020000 it would become 8.402

For 0.00021 it would become 2.1

Then you multiply by 10. The 10 is raised to the power of how many times you moved the decimal. If you moved the decimal to the left, you use a positive exponent. If you moved it to the right, it would be a negative exponent.

Using the examples above, you would have:

8.402 x 107

2.1 x 10-4