What to call the exponent of 10 in scientific numbers?

Question

I'm writing a software API for tracking measurements, and the API has an option for configuring the precision of the values displayed. The configuration is a number that serves as the exponent of a power-of-10 multiplier (i.e. scientific notation); e.g. if the measurement units are meters, if this number that configures the precision is -3, the multiplier is 0.001 and the displayed units are millimeters. Or if the configured precision is 3, the multiplier is 1000 and the displayed units are kilometers.

What simple, succinct, & specific mathematical word can I use as the name of this configuration value? I.e., what can I call 'n' in this: Measurement x 10ⁿ

The term "multiplier" isn't accurate since by itself that number isn't a multiplier, and "scaler" doesn't seem right either.

The appropriate mathematical term to use is that $n$ is an "exponent" of 10 — amWhy, Jul 06 '18 at 16:34
A google-books search for "scientific notation" + mantissa ("mantissa", because that's what the value in front of $10^n$ is usually called) indicates that "exponent" is typically used. — Dave L. Renfro, Jul 06 '18 at 16:35

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 06 '18 at 16:35

2

In scientific notation, such as $9.81 \times 10^4$, we call $9.81$ the mantissa and $4$ the exponent.

answered Jul 06 '18 at 16:35

davidlowryduda

91,687

But 4 seems like an exponent of 10, not an exponent of 9.81. Is there another word that makes it clear that the 4 is a power of 10 that is then used as a multiplier of 9.81? – phonetagger Jul 06 '18 at 16:39
Maybe you could say that $10$ is the base then? – MSDG Jul 06 '18 at 16:58

What to call the exponent of 10 in scientific numbers?

1 Answers1