How to Convert Decimals to Engineering Notation
- 1). Move the decimal to the right or the left three places at a time while keeping track of the total number of decimal places moved. If the number is very large, move it to the left; stop before the number would become less than one. If the number is very small, move it to the right until the number is greater than one and less than one thousand.
- 2). Rewrite the number with the decimal place in the new location. If the number is not greater than one and less than one thousand, Step 1 has been performed incorrectly.
- 3). Add to the end of the number "x 10" with the proper exponent. The exponent will be equivalent to the the number of places the decimal was moved. It will be negative for small numbers and positive for large numbers. The exponent should always be a multiple of 3 or -3.
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