Resistor value notation question. 1.96e+4 ??? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Chris Wilson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2012, 09:45:36 pm
content: If a resistor's value is quoted as 1.96e+4 can someone tell me how to decipher it please? The +4 is presumably to the the power of 4. What about the "e"? Thanks.I have this question because this on line calculator for meter voltage multipliers uses this format for required series resistance:http://ibration.uuuq.com/Calculators/VoltmeterMultiplier.php

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 16, 2012, 10:10:09 pm
content: That is standard scientific notation.The e stands for exponent, also written as x10That explains the "EXP" key on many calculatorsSo type 1.96 EXP 4 into your calculator and you'll be able to convert to the various engineering modes using the ENG keys.To do it manually, the +4 means the shift the decima place 4 places to the right. So 1.96 becomes 196001.96e-4 would become 0.000196So the answer is 19.6KohmsDave.

author: Chris Wilson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2012, 10:14:25 pm
content: Ah, simple when you know how. Thanks Dave, must get to grips with a decent scientific calculator, but to be honest even the instructions frighten meIt might be because a lot of these things have instructions that look like they were converted into English by someone that doesn't speak it!

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 16, 2012, 10:44:34 pm
content: Quote from: Chris Wilson on November 16, 2012, 10:14:25 pmDon't worry, you've just basically mastered the scientific calculator!Dave.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2012, 11:39:55 pm
content: Its easy to read when you see the exponent as -3, -6, -9 or -12 as they correspond to milli, micro, nano, picoConversely, 3, 6 or 9 (positive) are kilo, mega, giga

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 17, 2012, 01:55:15 am
content: Quote from: Chris Wilson on November 16, 2012, 09:45:36 pmThat's not the best online calculator in terms of results presentation. A value of 1.96e+4 is "computer speak" and is not a normal format you would find in a book or other literature. A better calculator would show the value as 19.6 x 103or 19.6 k.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 17, 2012, 03:01:23 pm
content: 1.96e4 or 1.96e+4 is standard notation for a scientific calculator in SCI (scientific notation) mode. Setting them to ENG mode would change the display to 19.6e3. Few calculators will display it in the format that IanB mentions.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 17, 2012, 06:53:55 pm
content: Quote from: alm on November 17, 2012, 03:01:23 pmNote: by "calculator" I meant on-line calculation tools as in the OP's link, rather than hand held pocket calculators. With an on-line web tool the author has a lot of scope for nicely formatting and presenting results.All of my pocket calculators would show the result as "1.96 04" in scientific notation, which is even less pretty.This thread is not the first time I have seen someone ask about scientific notation. I don't think you would encounter it unless you went through a mathematics and sciences education path, and you really wouldn't encounter the 1.96e+4 format unless you did programming or worked with computers (or had Excel try to "help" you with cell formattng), although if you already know scientific notation the meaning is pretty obvious.

author: Chris Wilson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 17, 2012, 07:03:08 pm
content: I have a Casio scientific calculator, the model number escapes me, but it's the one the RSGB (Radio Society of Great Britain) recommend for the advanced licence exam, which I hope to take early next year, so I will have to get my head around this fairly shortly. Personally I if I was designing an on line resistance calculator I would make the input and results display foolproof to none a mathematical person, as someone familiar with things like scientific notation probably wouldn't be using it anyway

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 17, 2012, 07:10:26 pm
content: you would instantly instantly recognize the 1.96e+04 annotation standard if you tried to/extensively use Windows Vista/7 (AT least) calculator

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 17, 2012, 07:29:49 pm
content: TI graphing calculators use 1.96E4 (with the E in small caps), which is pretty close to 1.96e+04. These tend to be pretty popular: graphing calculators are mandatory for many high school math courses these days, and TI has by far the largest market share there.Something like an online resistance calculator could use a nicer notation (eg. 19.6k). In general, I don't see a better alternative for 1.96e4 that wouldn't take up much more space or would be much less general. 1.96 x 104take about twice the amount of space, and SI prefixes don't work well for non-metric units (would you talk about centi inches?) or extremely small/large values. Would the statement that an electron has a charge of 160 zC be more helpful than 1.60e-19 C?

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 17, 2012, 07:33:35 pm
content: Quote from: IanB on November 17, 2012, 06:53:55 pmThe "natural display" casio series, shot of my fx-350es.