Scientific notation

[Sei Lam 3F]

How small does a number need to be before it warrants being rewritten in scientific notation? For instance, we could technically write 0.123 as 1.23 x 10^-1, but we'd probably just leave it as 0.123. Meanwhile, we might write 0.000123 as 1.23 x 10^-4. How do we determine when to write a number in scientific notation?

[Kyle Hetherton]

The textbook always puts the answer into scientific notation if the number is greater than 999 and less than .01. I don't think your answer will ever be considered wrong if you put it into scientific notation of not but anything not within the above range becomes inconvenient to write without using scientific notation. It is a short cut so use it as you feel comfortable.

[Abby L 2E]

When it’s not a single to double digit number, from my understanding. Anything that’s more digit places than 100 or .01 is fair game for scientific notation.