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Any real number can be written in the form m × 10 ^ n in many ways: for example, 350 can be written as 3.5 × 10 2 or 35 × 10 1 or 350 × 10 0. In normalized scientific notation (called "standard form" in the United Kingdom), the exponent n is chosen so that the absolute value of m remains at least one but less than ten ( 1 ≤ | m | < 10 ).
The everyday approximation 3.14 has three significant figures and 7 correct binary digits. The approximation 22/7 has the same three correct decimal digits but has 10 correct binary digits. Most calculators and computer programs can handle the 16-digit expansion 3.141592653589793, which is sufficient for interplanetary navigation calculations. [5]
Modern scientific calculators generally have many more capabilities than the original four- or five-function calculator, and the capabilities differ between manufacturers and models. The capabilities of a modern scientific calculator include: Scientific notation; Floating-point decimal arithmetic; Logarithmic functions, using both base 10 and ...
For a number written in scientific notation, this logarithmic rounding scale requires rounding up to the next power of ten when the multiplier is greater than the square root of ten (about 3.162). For example, the nearest order of magnitude for 1.7 × 10 8 is 8, whereas the nearest order of magnitude for 3.7 × 10 8 is 9.
That is, the value of an octal "10" is the same as a decimal "8", an octal "20" is a decimal "16", and so on. In a hexadecimal system, there are 16 digits, 0 through 9 followed, by convention, with A through F. That is, a hexadecimal "10" is the same as a decimal "16" and a hexadecimal "20" is the same as a decimal "32".
Round-to-nearest: () is set to the nearest floating-point number to . When there is a tie, the floating-point number whose last stored digit is even (also, the last digit, in binary form, is equal to 0) is used.
The calculator can be set to display values in binary, octal, or hexadecimal form, as well as the default decimal. When a non-decimal base is selected, calculation results are truncated to integers. Regardless of which display base is set, non-decimal numbers must be entered with a suffix indicating their base, which involves three or more ...
In some contexts it is desirable to round a given number x to a "neat" fraction – that is, the nearest fraction y = m/n whose numerator m and denominator n do not exceed a given maximum. This problem is fairly distinct from that of rounding a value to a fixed number of decimal or binary digits, or to a multiple of a given unit m.