scientific notation: Meaning and Definition of

scientif'ic nota'tion

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. a method for expressing a given quantity as a number having significant digits necessary for a specified degree of accuracy, multiplied by 10 to the appropriate power, as 1385.62 written as 1.386 × 10.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.