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Standard form - OCRCalculating standard form with a calculator

Calculations with very big or small numbers can be made easier by converting numbers in and out of standard form.

Part ofMathsNumber

Calculating standard form with a calculator

Click to explore updated revision resources for GCSE Maths: Standard form, with step-by-step slideshows, quizzes, practice exam questions, and more!

Standard form can be calculated on a scientific calculator with the ‘exponent’ button. ’Exponent’ is another name for power. On a calculator, the ‘exponent’ button is specifically for standard form and powers of 10, whereas the \(x^y\) button can be used for any power. Scientific calculators can also be set to “scientific” mode and will then show all calculations in standard form.

For example, to input \(1.2 \times 10^7\), press:

1.2 EXP 7

which will appear as:

1.207 or 12000000 or 1.2 E7 or \(1.2 \times 10^7\)