On 10/27/09, scientific or exponential notation? wrote:
>
>>> That person is confusing "exponential notation"
>>> with "scientific notation" in which numbers are written in
>>> the style "a times ten to the nth power" where 1 < a <
>>> 10 and n is an integer (whole number or its opposite).
>
>
> Could you clarify what is the difference between exponential
> notation and scientific notation? I was under the impression that
> both of these terms were the same.

I think the difference is that scientific notation only deals with
powers of 10 as a method of easily showing magnitude, while exponential
notation refers to any situation where exponents are used. So saying
that exponential notation is used in astronomy is correct, but it would
be more precise to say scientific notation is used in astronomy

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