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Is -2.0138e-01 equal to -0.20138 (or) -0.00138 (or) 0.20138 (or) 0.00138.

Not sure how to read the -ve numbers and positive numbers.

This website(http://www.easysurf.cc/scintd.htm) shows 0.00138 for -2.0138e-01.

Not quite sure, if that's right

tjt
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    The scientific notation calculator you link to was not written to accept negative answers . This it leaves off the -2. This is why you are getting the weird result. – Kitter Catter Jun 09 '16 at 00:05
  • @KitterCatter: Ahh, interesting. I couldn't try it out from work. – Brian Tung Jun 09 '16 at 00:11

1 Answers1

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I'd interpret that as $-0.20138$. I don't quite understand why the $2$ or the negative sign should be ignored.

\begin{align} -2.0138E-01 & = -2.0138 \times 10^{-1} \\ & = -2.0138 \times 0.1 \\ & = -0.20138 \end{align}

Brian Tung
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    This is computer output notation. From back in the Olden Days when computers had only a limited character set. In particular, no exponents. Is there any reason (besides inertia) to use it any more? – GEdgar Jun 09 '16 at 00:09
  • @GEdgar: Text consoles still don't have a full superscript set. I wouldn't say that's a terribly common use case (although it applies to me), but it's a reason. – Brian Tung Jun 09 '16 at 00:10
  • @GEdgar, This is what the output from regression model in R says 'distance_value -2.0138e-01'. figuring out on how to read the notation and what it stands for. – tjt Jun 09 '16 at 16:49
  • Those oldie computer languages more than 20 years old, like R, may still use this notation. – GEdgar Jun 09 '16 at 19:28