Scientific notation is a useful for displaying very large and very small numbers. Numbers are written as powers of ten. In scientific notation, 100000 would be 1E+5 (which means 1 *10^5), while 0.00001 would be 1E-5 (which means 1 *10^-5).
To convert numbers to scientific notation:
Select the cell(s) that you want to format.
Go to the Format menu, and click Cells.
A Format Cells window will appear.
Click the Number tab.
In the Category box, click Scientific.
A list of scientific notation format types will appear in the Type box. Click on a type to select it. When you click on a type, a Sample will be displayed below.
After selecting a type, click OK.
The scientific notation formatting will be applied to the selected cell(s). Note that the numbers will still be numerical values after the formatting is applied.
Note: To quickly access the number formatting window, go to the Format menu, and click Number formatting.
Scientific Notation in Formulas
Users experienced in entering formulas may prefer to use scientific notation while typing in a cell.
Click on the cell you want the insert the scientific notation value into.
Type the number in the cell. Use the letter E to indicate a power of ten. For example, for 1000, type 1e3. For 0.1, type 1e-1.
Press Enter.
In the cell, the number will appear in scientific notation, fixed to two decimal places. The standard number will appear in the formula bar above the spreadsheet.
Examples:
Value Entered |
Scientific Notation |
Standard Form |
5e0 |
5.00E+00 |
5 |
5e-2 |
5.00E-02 |
0.05 |
5e6 |
5.00E+06 |
5000000 |
3.3333e2 |
3.33E+02 |
333.33 |
-9e-5 |
-9.00E-05 |
-0.00009 |