Scientific Notation
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Definition
A method of expressing numbers as a coefficient between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of 10 (e.g., 6.022 × 10²³).
Explanation
Scientific notation keeps calculations tractable across extreme scales. The mass of an electron is 9.109 × 10⁻³¹ kg; the mass of the Sun is 1.989 × 10³⁰ kg — both unwieldy in standard form. Multiplying them requires only adding exponents: 10⁻³¹ × 10³⁰ = 10⁻¹.
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