ELI5-What does the ‘e’ in large calculations mean, and why does it only appear in a calculator and not when one actually solves problems?

Question

ELI5-What does the ‘e’ in large calculations mean, and why does it only appear in a calculator and not when one actually solves problems?

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Answer 1

The calculator has a fixed number of digits, and more digits would mean more LEDs or LCDs and cost more money.

Let’s say your calculator has 8 digits. It can display 12,345,678 with no problem. But what if you mulitply that by 9? The answer is 111,111,102; but the biggest number the calculator can display is 99,999,999.

There are two choices, A) no answer or B) find a better way to show 111,111,102. Calculators take choice B because choice A isn’t useful. It shows 1.11111e8. This isn’t the whole answer, only 6 of 9 digits, but the scientific notation tells you the calculators best representation is 1.11111 x 10^8 for 111,111,000. It’s not exact, but pretty close.