What is Engineering Notation?

Jimmie FoutsHouston County Career Academy

Easy to understand! Used extensively in engineering and

science! Interpreted directly from many

calculators! Important to your study of electronics!

The exponent (power of 10) can be any integer (whole number)

Examples include: -4, -2, 4, 7

Actually a form of scientific notation Requires the exponent to be a multiple

of 3 Examples include: -6, -3, 6, 9 The most commonly used exponents are

assigned metric prefixes

Prefix Symbol Value Value

Giga G 10℮9 1,000,000,000

Mega M 10e6 1,000,000

Kilo k 10e3 1000

Milli m 10e-3 1/1,000

Micro Ч 10e-6 1/1,000,000

Nano n 10e-9 1/1,000,000,000

Pico p 10e-12

1/1,000,000,000,000

Bill is 1.9 meters in height To express Bill’s height in millimeters,

we would make multiply 1.9 by 1000 = 1900 mmPrefix Symbol Valu

eValue

Giga G 10℮9 1,000,000,000

Mega M 10e6 1,000,000

Kilo k 10e3 1000

Milli m 10e-3 1/1,000

Micro Ч 10e-6 1/1,000,000

Nano n 10e-9 1/1,000,000,000

Pico p 10e-12

1/1,000,000,000,000

A common power line voltage for electric distribution is 23,000 volts.

This is equivalent to 23 kilovolts (kv) or 0.023 megavolts (Mv)Prefix Symbol Value Value

Giga G 10℮9 1,000,000,000

Mega M 10e6 1,000,000

Kilo k 10e3 1000

Milli m 10e-3 1/1,000

Micro Ч 10e-6 1/1,000,000

Nano n 10e-9 1/1,000,000,000

Pico p 10e-12

1/1,000,000,000,000