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

I think you’re referring to the scientific notation “E.” Like if you make a large calculation and get a number like 4.566 E8. The E in this case is shorthand for “times ten to the power of…” and then the next number. So it’s showing that the number is in scientific notation, which is a handy way to represent large numbers.

So my example of 4.566 E8 would be 4.566 x 10^(8) in scientific notation, replacing E8 with “x 10^(8)”. And both of those would be 456,600,000 if we were to write it out normally. Especially on older calculators that could only show limited digits, this was an easier way to show big numbers.