than 10 (for example, ).

Engineering notation

Engineering notation (often named "ENG" on scientific calculators) differs from normalized scientific notation in that the exponent n is restricted to multiples of 3. Consequently, the absolute value of m is in the range 1 <= |m| < 1000, rather than 1 <= |m| < 10. Though similar in concept, engineering notation is rarely called scientific notation. Engineering notation allows the numbers to explicitly match their corresponding SI prefixes, which facilitates reading and oral communication. For example, can be read as "twelve-point-five nanometres" and written as , while its scientific notation equivalent would likely be read out as "one-point-two-five times ten-to-the-negative-eight metres".

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