<u>Scientific notation</u> is a means of expressing numbers as a multiple of two factors: a number between 1 and 10; and ten raised to a power, or exponent.
<em><u>Scientists are capable of handling very large numbers or very small numbers using scientific notation. For example, instead of writing, 0.00000035, we write, 3.5 × 10^-7, or 200000, we write. 2.0 × 10^5</u></em>
From the example; 3.5 is the digit tern and 10^-7 is the exponential term.
A positive exponent (e.g 10^5) indicates that the decimal point is shifted that number of points (5) to the right while a negative exponent ( 10^-7) indicates that the decimal point is shifted that number of places(7) to the left.