Standard scientific notation solves the problem of trailing zeros.
Example:
Are there exactly 41,000 students at MSU? No, probably the last three
zeros are not significant. In scientific notation we would say
4.1·104, which implies that only the first two
figures are significant (= precisely known); but at the same time it
fails to convey that the number of students is an integer.
Most computer uses require this type of number to be written 4.1E4 or 4.1*10^4, since few input devices accept superscripts.
Very Important:
You can enter your answers to the homework problems with the "^" symbol or the format with an e or E in our system. Thus 41000, 4.1e4, 4.1E4 or 4.1*10^4 will be accepted as a valid number, but not 41,000 .
Scientific notation is particularly well suited to very small or very large numbers, such as the radius of a nucleus, 2.9·10-13 cm, or the distance to a star, 7.5·1014 km.
Summary:
In scientific notation there is usually one digit to the left of the decimal
point and as many digits to the right as are significant. This is
called the "mantissa" of the number. The magnitude of the number is expressed by
the power of ten.