How to use Scientific formatting in Excel

In this article, we will learn How to use Scientific formatting in Excel.

Number formatting in Excel

The Scientific format displays a number in exponential notation, replacing part of the number with E+n, in which E (exponent) multiplies the preceding number by 10 to the nth power. Number can be changed to percentage, date, time, currency and scientific number.

In simple words, sometimes working with mathematical operations on a sheet. We need numbers in Scientific format. Excel allows us to convert the format of the cell to scientific format.

For example, a 2-decimal scientific format displays 12345678901 as 1.23E+10, which is 1.23 times 10 to the 10th power.

Example :

All of these might be confusing to understand. Let's understand how to use the function using an example. Here we have 3 multiples of 10. Let’s see how to convert them into scientific format.

As you can see, we can convert numbers from general to scientific format.

You can convert multiples to 10 and decimal values to scientific format. When you convert a decimal value to scientific format, the number gets displayed in E-n format.

Now we will understand how to write in scientific format

Write 10^10 in scientific :

1.00E+10

It will be displayed as 1.00E+10 in the cell.

Write 0.0000025 in scientific :

2.5-6

It will be displayed as 2.5-06 in the cell.

Write 184000 in scientific :

1.84e+5

It will be displayed as 1.84E+05 in the cell.

The above 3 representation of scientific format of numbers, shown in the snapshot below.

Here cells have been converted to scientific format & written in Excel.

Here are all the observational notes using the number formatting in Excel.
Notes :

Use number formatting to convert the value into another format. The value remains the same.
Use percentage format when using percentage rate values in Excel.
Formula starts with ( = ) sign.
Sometimes there exist a curly braces in the start of formula, which is an array formula and called using the Ctrl + Shift + Enter. Do not put curly braces manually.
Text values and characters are always given using quotes or using cell reference
Numerical values can be given directly or using the cell reference.
Array can be given using the array reference or using named ranges.

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