Turn your scientific notation into a form that is easy to type by replacing the "x10^" with the letter "p." For example, you can write the diameter of the moon as "3.474 x 10^6" or you can substitute a "p" into the notation and write "3.474p6." This shorthand allows you to type scientific notation without having to adjust the formatting options in your word processor.
Make the coefficient in your scientific notation, which is the number to the left of the "p," less than 10 but no less than 1.0. Use "p" for the shorthand notation or "x10" for the more formal version. The exponent, i.e., the number to the right of the "p" in your notation, represents the number of places you need to move your decimal point in order to convert your scientific notation into a real number.
Use a positive exponent in your scientific notation to represent a number that is larger than your coefficient by a factor of your exponent. Use a negative exponent to represent a number that is smaller than your coefficient.
Look at a number written in a standard format. Ask yourself how many spaces you must move the decimal point to create a number that is less than 10 but no less than one. For every space you move left, increase your exponent by a positive value of one. For every space you move right, decrease your exponent by a value of one. For example, if your number is 3,400 (which can also be written as 3400.0), move the decimal point three places to the left to read 3.4p3.
Reverse the process to convert a number from scientific notation back into a standard number. Because the process is in reverse, a positive exponent moves the decimal point to the right, while a negative exponent moves it to the left. For example, the notation 5.63p5 represents the standard number 563,000.